In the Blood
by Yakuzaman5
Summary: In which Trucy begins to realize that she is not so different after all.
1. Chapter 1

Over the years, Trucy had learned there were only two things she truly loved.

Her work as a magician, and her Daddy. Everything else was secondary. Inconsequential. Meaningless to her.

Because she was a magician. She could not let her mind focus on what other people saw or thought. All that mattered was what she wanted them to see.

Sometimes she missed Apollo terribly. There were times, when they were alone together, that she felt like he understood her. More than her closest friends, more than Maya Fey, certainly more than Athena, and even more so than Daddy.

Other times she hated Apollo and was glad that he was gone. "He left us, at the first opportunity." She would repeat to herself, over and over. "He abandoned us, because he doesn't care about us."

No matter how much she tried to convince herself, she knew in her heart that it wasn't true. Apollo wrote to them near constantly. About his life in Khu'rain, about his new friends, about how rebuilding Khu'rain was going…

And she wrote back, more than any of them, trying to outdo him. "Things at the office are better than ever, Polly! I can't wait until you come back and see how much things have improved!"

Things weren't improving.

Athena, years after obtaining her attorney's badge, still could not overcome her crippling fear of courtrooms. Daddy tried to work with her, he really did, but she was genuinely struggling. Every set back caused her to lose her train of thought, forcing Phoenix to step in.

There was only one lawyer at the Wright Anything Agency, now.

Her own show, Trucy in Gramarye Land, while being well received among the critics who did see it, failed to perform commercially. Only performing one show of what was supposed to be many had killed her big chance to rise to stardom.

At least for the moment.

She was too skilled, too determined, too herself to let something like that deter her from trying again. In fact, it didn't slow her down creatively at all. She began to work twice as hard, skipping meals and sleep to practice on her magic.

Someday, she would stand on her own two feet. She knew. Someday, Daddy would be able to watch her from the crowd and applaud.

And maybe, Apollo would come back as well. Maybe. He deserved that. He was, after all, the reason she was still allowed to perform at all.

She did not feel the same sort of affection for Athena.

"What are you working on?"

Trucy looked up to see Athena's smiling face beaming down on her. "Just a new trick." She said. She tipped her hat at her, grinning. "But no peeking! It's not quite ready yet."

Athena slumped over, in that way she did whenever she was disappointed. "Really?" She asked. "Come on, I really want to know!"

"A magician must never reveal her tricks." Trucy said firmly. "Now, unless you want to practice…"

Athena gulped, and raced off. Far faster than she ever could hope too.

That was another thing about Athena. She pretended to be enthusiastic about everything. She would ask Trucy about her magic, but then never allow herself to help in the process. She would smile and laugh at Daddy's friends, only to confess to Trucy in private that she didn't get along with any of them. She was the first to cry at Apollo declaring the fact that he was leaving, but the first to laugh about it when they left him behind.

Trucy missed the days when it was just her and Daddy.

Times were even harder then. Daddy didn't even have a real job, and she was only getting started. But something about putting herself out there, dragging herself to the top by fingertips with nothing but what Zak had left her had given her an appreciation for everything she had now.

Then, they had met Apollo, and everything changed.

Daddy had not had his law license for the entire time they had been together, and Trucy honestly felt he looked happier than she had ever seen him. She wondered what it would be like if she couldn't practice magic. She couldn't even begin to imagine it.

She knew very little about why Daddy loved law so much. Very little indeed. Growing up he was unwilling to talk about it much, and as the years went by they sort of moved on, without ever really talking about it. She never understood why he insisted on taking care of Charley or why a poster for a movie he had never seen hung on his wall, or the who her Mommy was.

Trucy had caught a glimpse of her once, while she was younger, when Daddy had to get the chain the locket her photo was in fixed. She was beautiful, with long black hair and a small, nervous smile. She and Daddy were standing in the snow, laughing.

He took it from her, shaking his head.

"Trucy, please…"

Whoever the woman was, Daddy didn't want to talk about her. And Trucy would never do anything to hurt her Daddy.

She would never ask Daddy, but she did ask Maya, Pearl's cousing and Nick's close friend, once.

"Trucy, I'm not really not sure I should be the one to tell you about that." Maya said. Trucy had never seen her look so serious. "That's… well, it's really personal to your Father, and I think he should be the one to tell you."

So she waited.

Athena of all people was the one to finally bring the subject up.

"Trucy, why hasn't Mr. Wright gotten married?"

"I… don't know."

"Really?" She sounded doubtful. "Surely he's won some fans over the years in his line of work. I mean, I know Apollo does, Juniper never stops talking about him."

She felt a flash of anger inside of her, although she could not quite place why.

"I mean, Apollo is quite the catch, I suppose, but Mr. Wright… Well, he's a famous lawyer now, and I just wondered…"

"I think I had a mother, once." Trucy said quietly. "But I never even met her."

Athena looked quizzically at her, frowning. "You mean your real mother, or…?"

"Daddy used to always say, day after day, that I would meet her soon." It all started to come out, in a rush. "That she was really excited about meeting me, that she was coming live with us soon, that we would be a real family, and then…" She swallowed. "It never happened."

They sat in silence for a while, as neither of them really understood what that meant.

"Maybe they just broke up." Athena suggested. "It happens, you know? I mean, I've never dated, so I wouldn't know…"

She laughed. She was trying to lighten the mood, but Trucy didn't feel very cheery.

Athena did not ask her again. Instead, she asked Daddy up front.

"Mr. Wright, why didn't you get married?" She asked. "I mean, Trucy grew up without a mother!"

It was meant to be a humorous jab, but her Daddy's icy stare caused Athena to back off. "I-I'm sorry." She said, stuttering slightly. "I didn't mean-"

"It's fine." He said shortly. He stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

Athena was more susceptible to sudden mood changes than most people. She spent the rest of her afternoon crying into the Steel Samurai pillow Maya had left last time she was here.

Enough was enough, she thought. It was time she learned the truth.

She left her hat and cloak at home, instead opting for a more practical outfit as she hurried down the stairs trying to find him.

He did not recognize her at first when she found him. She felt a twinge of annoyance… did she really look that odd without her clothes? But he bought her a hot cocoa and she joined him on a walk through the snow.

"Daddy…" She said. "I… I want to know about her."

She could not live with herself any longer if she did not.

"I thought you might." He said. "It has been too long."

They set off, and Trucy realized that, this brief emotional connection between them, was more than she had ever done with Zak. Rage bubbled up within her, but she tried to suppress it. Zak was gone. She only had Daddy now.

He led her to a graveyard, and she felt her stomach tightening with regret.

"Lots of memories here." He said, as he looked at the first tomb stone they came across. 'Mia Fey.' Next to her was a small, unmarked grave. Daddy lay flowers on both of them. "These are the people who taught me what it means to be a lawyer." He told her. "But that's not what you want to know, is it?"

There were other names that they passed. Trucy got the impression Daddy came here often. Manfred Von Karma… Misty Fey… the names went on and on. And then, finally, they stood at a small grave sitting on it's own. It read simply 'Iris Wright.'

"This is it." He said finally, looking down at it. Trucy fell to her knees, staring at it faintly. She had never even known her first name until now, she realized faintly.

"This… is her…?"

She reached out a hand and touched the stone, barely registering just how cold it was. Her eyes began to water as she stared at it.

"I had no idea…"

"There was never a good time to tell you." Phoenix said gravely, standing over her. "She… left us less than a year after we met."

Her hand balled into fists. "Why… What happened?"

Phoenix looked away. He did not answer her.

"Daddy…"

She flung her arms around him, knowing that he something about the loss of his beloved wife haunted him to this day. She did not let him go. She would never ever let him go.

Because she was Trucy Wright, and she loved her Daddy.


	2. Chapter 2

She had not known how much she loved the law until Apollo came into her life.

She had known Daddy was a lawyer, of course. How could she not? But before meeting Apollo, it was something that she saw as being the past. Something long dead and buried. Something that the two of them would never speak of. It had no bearing on their lives now.

That day he was arrested terrified her. They could barely afford their rent then, and affording a lawyer would be impossible.

"What about that girl you found, Daddy?" She had asked him, her face pressed against the glass. "The one who wants to be a Lawyer?"

He smiled ruefully. "She's nowhere near ready for something like this." He said. "And she won't be for years."

They had found Apollo almost entirely by chance, but he had done more for them in the past year than any of them could have imagined. It was because of his help that they managed to expose the truth in the case that led to her Daddy's disbarment.

It was Apollo who brought the Agency back up on it's feet, helped her Daddy find reclaim his badge, and it was he who really gave them a chance to shine.

She really missed Apollo.

She was not the only one. Pearl Fey and her cousin, Maya, were always eager to hear about how he was doing in Khu'rain. Maya in particular was far more interested in the political aspects of Khu'rain ("Mr. Justice is making real history!) But Pearl asked after him personally.

She was not close to Pearl. She had once overheard her father describe them as being like 'sisters' but she didn't feel that way. They did not fight, get into squabbles, or anything like that. But they also did not have the close emotional connection that real sisters should have.

Trucy did not feel comfortable in asking Pearl about herself or what she was doing with her time, but today was a little different.

"Mr. Justice has really come into his own, hasn't he?" Pearl asked. "It really makes me feel as if I need to grow up a little myself."

Pearl always spoke in a dignified, polite tone of voice. Trucy, a natural born showman sort of person, always felt as if they had come from two very different worlds.

"Grow up?" Trucy repeated. "But you are… rather well respected in Kurain, aren't you?" She knew better than to believe in Spirit channeling. She was a magician, after all.

She shook her head. "With Mystic Maya finally ready to rule the clan, I feel as if my presence is not needed." She said. "I feel as if I need to focus my energies… elsewhere."

She blushed. Trucy cocked her head curiously to the side, and asked her to continue.

"Our population of Spirit Mediums is at an all time low." Pearl confessed. "But with Mystic Maya's power fully realized, we no longer have need for a lowly acolyte like me."

"But what will you do now?" Trucy asked, still unsure of where to go with this.

"Well…" She buried her face in her hands. "I want to get married!"

"Married?" Trucy repeated. Pearl nodded, her face radiant. "But why do you need to leave the village for something like that."

"There are no men in Kurain." She said, calming herself a little as she folded her hands neatly onto her lap. "I feel as if there is no one there for me. The city, on the other hand…"

"I thought you loved Kurain." Trucy said. She could not explain why this sudden shift in attitude bothered her so much.

"You sound just like Mystic Maya." Pearl said, laughing. "But she cannot stop me. She knows, as I do, that we need more mediums. Not less. And there is, as they say, only one way to make that happen."

That was a rather old fashioned sounding way of saying you desperately wanted to get fucked by someone, Trucy thought. Pearl always was a rather odd girl.

Zak, her real daddy, had once told her that there were two types of people in the world. Magicians, and everyone else. Magicians were clever, intelligent creatures that could fool and impress the masses. As she got older, she began to feel more and more as if that was an overgeneralization. The lawyers she surrounded herself with were more than willing to question her tricks when the need arose, and they had never had any trouble figuring them out. Even in those instances where she was too stubborn to swallow her pride and describe how the trick actually worked.

The Feys, to her, were the perfect audience. They laughed and clapped at everything she showed them without questioning the hows and she could do what she did. It encouraged her and pushed her to improve her craft.

Daddy and Apollo, on the other hand, were more than willing to try and help her improve. Daddy wasn't good at it at all, although he tried, but Apollo was actually a born natural. If she had met him earlier in life, than somehow, maybe, he could have been her assistant. He was more than competent, perhaps even more so than the De Famme twins. He offered feedback, helped her practice, even invented his own trick that surprised her.

But he was too set in his ways. Too old. Too happy with who he already was to change.

Athena was different. She was too eager to try new things, and just as eager to drop them just as quickly. She would volunteer to help Trucy with her work, only to flake on her at the last moment. Whereas Apollo would often refuse to commit due to other responsibilities, he always made time to help her. Athena never did.

She looked up from where they were sitting to see a rain drenched Athena and Daddy step inside.

"I am exhausted." Athena moaned, as she flopped on the couch. Pearl frowned at her, and Trucy for once could see why. She was getting all of their things wet.

"You did well today, Athena." Phoenix told her. "We just need to do a little more investigating, then you'll have all the tools you need."

She flipped over onto her back and shot him a thumbs up. "You got it, boss." She said. "But Mr. Gavin is a real piece of work… I can't stay focused on the case with him smiling at me all the time."

Phoenix smiled and shook his head. "It's just something you're going to have to learn to deal with." He said. "People will try to throw all sorts of curveballs at you to keep you on your toes. But if you're smart, you can deal with anything they try."

Daddy had taken an interest in Athena years ago, long before they had met Apollo. He had immediately taken a shine to her and spent a lot of time working with her, trying to shape her into the ideal attorney.

Trucy, truth be told, felt very left out. Daddy never even tried to teach her anything like that, and had little experience with magic besides what she showed him. They were as distant as they were close.

Sometimes she wondered if Athena was more his daughter than she was. Sometimes she wondered if Daddy loved her more than her.

Athena knew it, too. Or at least she thought she did. She was always trying to be especially nice to Trucy, to win her over, but nothing she did could change how she felt.

She missed Apollo terribly. He made the Agency more than what it was, not… this.

Trucy could not fall asleep. All she could think of that night was Athena and her Daddy, talking about their work.

Why was he so interested in her?

Why couldn't he pay more attention to her, and what she was doing?

Why didn't he care about her?

What could she do to make him appreciate what she did for this agency more?

The questions kept beating around in her head, and she could not sleep. She had no choice. She couldn't just sit here and do nothing. She needed to practice.

She slipped out of bed, grabbed her hat, and slid out of the house.

Maybe she just wasn't working hard enough. She thought, as drops of rain pattered down onto her. Perhaps Daddy thought she was lazy, or useless, or a terrible magician…

She spun around, drops of rain flicking off her cape. She put on her brightest smile. "I am Trucy Wright!" She declared to the street.. "A child of magic!"

There was no applause, but that was because there was no crowd. Was she such a terrible magician that she did not have fans following her every move?

"Perhaps I am getting too old to be known as a Child of Magic." She thought aloud to herself, adjusting her hat. She was very nearly a adult. Pearl already was, and was thinking about starting a family.

She twirled again, striking another pose. "I am Trucy Wright! The Last of the Gramarye!"

That had a certain ring to it, but she disliked using her name directly in association with the Troupe's. Gramayre Land, for example, came about because she wished to distinguish herself from the rest of the troop.

She was still a Gramarye, but she was also Trucy Wright.

She spun around again. "I am Trucy Wright, the greatest magician in the world!"

Too bold of a claim. She thought irritably. You couldn't call yourself the greatest. Then people would think you never could be.

She spun around, again and again, trying out different stage names. "I am the Almighty!" "I am the magical girl!" "I am Gramarye!" Each time, she was underwhelmed by how none of them sounded good on her toungue.

"I am lonely." She said at last, as the rain poured on her. "I hate this."

She kneeled down on the sidewalk, feeling misereable. She wished Apollo was here.

"I am Trucy Wright." She said, as she stared at her reflection in the puddle. "Daughter of Phoenix and Iris Wright…"

She shook her head again, trying to clear her thoughts. She could not dwell on thoughts of a woman she would never meet. She would need to be strong, both for her Daddy and for herself.

"I am Trucy Wright!" She screamed, suddenly jolting upwards. "And I never give up!"

She would someday be the greatest magician the world had ever seen, and no one would be able to take Daddy's eyes off of her again.


	3. Chapter 3

Today was already quite different than most days.

She had gotten up, as usual. She had dressed in her magician's outfit, rehearsed, realized how late she was going to be, quickly redressed into her school things, and was almost out the door before she realized that, unlike most days, someone had come to call on them.

"Hello, Trucy!"

It was Maya Fey. Daddy's old friend. She had been sitting on the floor by the couch, some distance away from the couch. She had not seen her when she had come into the room.

A lot about Maya Fey was a mystery to her. In her eyes, she was no different than Daddy's various other friends that would drop by on occasion. Mr. Edgeworth, his oldest friend, was distant and aloof but still somehow always present. Mr. and Mrs. Gumshoe were always dropping by to say hello, and she had even seen the Judge himself step into this room once before, to congratulate Daddy on reclaiming his badge and to wish him well in his future endeavors.

But Maya, she thought, was closer to Daddy than anyone. Unlike Edgeworth, who never seemed to care about much of anything besides the law, Maya could talk to Phoenix about anything. About her thoughts on the Steel Samurai, about the political undercurrents in Khu'rain, about her family, and memories of days long past. She was kind, she was funny, she was able to make Daddy smile no matter the situation. Trucy felt as if Maya knew him much better than she did, and the very thought infuriated her.

Although Maya and Daddy were very close, Trucy never really felt a connection with her. She was an ever present factor in their life, Daddy kept in very close contact with her after all, but they had very rarely spent any real time together, especially without Daddy being present.

Trucy suddenly felt very uneasy. Just what was she doing here, in the early morning? She was careful, however, to keep her face upbeat and happy as she lowered her hat.

"Welcome!" She said, her voice light and friendly. "It's so nice to see you, Maya!"

Maya smiled at her. She was sitting down on the floor with her legs folded under her. "Would you like some tea?" She asked. "It's a blend I found in Khu'rain. It's delicious!"

Trucy shook her head. "No, no thank you." She said. "Actually, I'm a hurry… I need to be at school right now, and-"

"Oh, I can take you!" She said brightly, clapping her hands together. "Actually, that was why I stopped by… I wanted to show Nick my new toy! Come on!"

She stood up and they walked down the stairs together. She had such a childish mind, Trucy thought as Maya rambled about how cool whatever it is she had was and how Nick would be super impressed with it.

She had no clue what she was on about, but she smiled and laughed regardless. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Maya raced forward and opened the door with a flourish!"

"Ta-Dah!" She said. Trucy gave a genuine laugh this time…. It sounded almost like something she would say. Perhaps Maya knew her a bit better than she thought.

Sitting out in front of their home was a small, red motorbike. It looked brand new.

"You got a bike?" Trucy asked, sounding impressed. No one in the agency was willing to take the time to get a license, so motor vehicles were actually kind of a novelty to her. The only person at the agency who didn't walk everywhere was Athena, and all she had was a regular bike.

"Yep!" Maya said. "Khu'rain doesn't have anything like this, and I've always really wanted one, so I decided to treat myself after I got back. I have my license and everything."

She looked really pleased with herself, like she had done something amazing. Trucy wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Anyway, Trucy…. Is Nick home?"

It always threw her for a loop whenever someone referred to Phoenix by anything other than 'Mr. Wright.' She could not ever place why. "No, he's in court today." She said. "Athena is handling another case today."

Maya grinned. "Good for her!" She said. "Nick is really proud of her progress."

Trucy felt incredibly bothered by that. Athena, making progress? Trucy had gone from performing in a bar to running some of the most critically acclaimed magic shows in the city. Where was her recognition? Where was her love?

"That's Athena for you!" Trucy said brightly, bounding on her heels. "She never knows when to give up!"

Maya laughed. "She really is a lot like Nick." She said. "Why, I wouldn't be here today if he knew how to give up."

She knew very little about Maya and Daddy's history together. She was somehow ever present in his life, and knew more about him than anyone she had ever met. But how that bond was formed, and why it had lasted all these years, remained a mystery to her.

Curiosity overtook her. The wound of learning about Iris, the mother she never knew, had healed somewhat and she yearned to learn more. Who better to ask then Daddy's closest friend?

"What do you mean?" Trucy asked at last. "Has he ever defended you?"

Maya giggled. "Has he ever- he has more times than I can count, I think. He's been there for me more than anyone this past decade."

They had known each other for over ten years. Trucy recalled, her mind whirling. Ten years together was a long time. Neither of her true parents made it to her tenth birthday. They had been long gone from her life by that point.

"A decade…" Trucy whispered. "That long, huh?"

"That's right." Maya said, seemingly ecstatic that Trucy was interested in her life's story. "One wild decade, full of twists, turns, mysteries, and romance!"

She let out a playful sigh. She was very dramatic, Trucy thought. Perhaps in another life she could have been a reasonably talented assistant to her act. Anyone would be an improvement over the De Fammes.

"You're going to have to tell me all about it." Trucy told her. "You and Daddy."

Maya grinned at her. "That sounds fun." She said. "I have lots of stories…" She suddenly frowned. "But Nick hasn't told you that much about… his past, have you?"

Trucy was very rarely truly honest with anyone. It was an important part of being a magician to always deceive, always think ahead, always manipulate. But this time she felt as if being honest was the only way to get what she wanted.

"He told me nothing." She said. "We only met during… that… case, and never really wanted to talk about it." Even now, years later, they still never talked about his days as a lawyer. They had spent years trying to move past it and move on with their lives

Maya stared at her sympathetically. "You know Trucy…" She said slowly. "I think you should know a bit more about Nick. You deserve it."

She nodded, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. Something about the idea of looking into her Daddy's past came off as… creepy, snooping. Invasive.

But she had to know, so she readily agreed.

She found Maya sitting in a coffee shop several hours later. She waved her over, and Trucy looked over at her quizzically. Sitting in front of her was a large binder, filled to the brim with various papers.

"Nick doesn't know I have this." She confessed, as Trucy sat down. "I'm saving it for his retirement, I think he'll be really be touched. But remember… it's a secret!"

She flipped open the page. There, on the inside of the front cover, was a photograph of a much younger looking Maya Fey and Daddy, standing by a window.

"This was taken immediately after his first trial without his mentor." Maya explained to her, as she trailed her finger over the various spots on the photo. "The beginnings of a beautiful partnership…"

Trucy leaned in closer to look at it. "Is that Charley?"

"It is!"

They spent a little bit of time talking about the picture, but Trucy quickly became aware that Maya was avoiding a certain sensitive subject… specifically how a lawyer with a single case under his belt secured his own law office.

Maya flipped the page. This next picture was one of Daddy in court. He was standing with his back to the camera, and he was facing down Mr. Edgeworth. The discussion, whatever it was, was not going well. Neither side was backing down.

"This was taken during the Will Powers case." Maya explained to her. "This was the first case we ever worked on together. And we defended the Steel Samurai!"

She was not a Steel Samurai fan, so the photo of the grizzled, terryifing looking man meant nothing to her. But there were several more images of him on this page, each with a scribbled little label next to it. They seemed to describe the man's life after the trial. His surprise marriage to an austrailian model, his successful opening of an acting school for aspiring action stars, the birth of his first child…

"None of this would have been possible without Nick proving him Not Guilty." Maya told her. "Not only did he save the man, he saved the show… The Steel Samurai would have been cancelled for good if Powers had been found guilty!"

She flipped the page again. This time, Edgeworth's face was the one looking up at her. Trucy blinked, confused, as Maya let out a laugh.

"Do you not know why they have such a strange friendship?" She asked. "Nick successfully defended him, you know. And against his mentor…"

She pointed at the sinister looking old man standing on the Prosecutor's bench. "Manfred Von Karma." She said, her voice ominous. "The unbeatable prosecutor."

Trucy let out a breath she was not aware she was holding. "Wow…" She said softly. "Edgeworth must be very grateful…"

"He is, in his own way." Maya told her. The page flipped again.

"Mrs. Gumshoe?"

"Yes, yes…"

It went on and on like that. She saw a number of different former clients and how they had been allowed to go on to live happy lives once they had been acquitted.

And then they came to her.

"And this is…"

Maya frowned, as she looked at it. "Um, maybe I shouldn't… talk about this one." She said. She suddenly sounded very distant and sad. "Iris…"

She had never seen a photo of her before. But she knew it was her simply by the way that Daddy was smiling at her. In all the photos she had ever seen him in, she had never seen him so happy.

The book suddenly closed in her face. She almost jumped as she looked at Maya.

"I'm sorry, Trucy." She said quickly. "I just think… Well… this isn't something I really want to talk about with you. This is a book for Nick, after all, and I just…."

She couldn't understand what flustered her so badly, but she decided to let it slide. "No, it's fine." She said. "I really appreciated that, Maya. I feel like… I know him a little better, somehow."

Maya smiled at her, despite her clear unease. "You're too sweet." She said. "He's really lucky to have you in his life, you know."

That made her swell with happiness and pride.

They finished their coffee and got to their feet. Trucy feeling a bit antsy. She had not practiced at all today yet.

"How is Pearl doing, anyway?" Trucy asked her. "She's not doing anything… odd, is she?"

Maya smiled and laughed. "Oh, no. She loves the city." She said. "And she's telling me that she's met her special someone…"

"So soon?"

"Yes, well, Pearly has always been a bit of a romantic." Maya told her. "But she's a smart girl. She'll be fine."

"A special someone, huh?" Trucy murmured. The only special people in her life was Daddy and perhaps Apollo. She thought of Iris again. "Maya, what ever happened to my mommy?"

She let out a surprised cough, covering her mouth with her hand. "I… what?" She sputtered, suddenly looking very alarmed. "I… I don't know! Where is this coming from? I don't…. I've never even met your mother!"

"But you have a picture of her in your book…"

"Huh…" She looked down again, at the book, before suddenly laughing. "Oh." She said. "Yes… Ummm… well…." She looked embarrassed and suddenly shifty. Trucy narrowed her eyes. Something was wrong. "You mean… Phoenix's wife, Iris?"

"Yes, I mean her." Trucy said. "I've never met her, but if she loved Daddy, I guess that makes her my mommy."

"Oh… yes… I see." Maya said, calming down considerably. "Yes, I thought you might have meant… well…" She shook her head, trying to calm herself. "But anyway, Trucy… I'll be honest with you, I don't think you need to hear this today. It's a really sad story and we've spent enough time talking about this as it is."

She was hiding something from her. She just knew it. But she knew she had to back off for now.

They walked back to their place in silence. Both of them were deep in thought as they walked through the snow.

"Trucy…"

She turned to look at her.

"Does…" She seemed hesitant. "Does Nick seem like he's interested in remarrying?"

Trucy looked away again. Suddenly, everything had fallen into place for her. "No." She said. "The thought has never crossed his mind."

"I… see."

Trucy now knew why Maya spent so much time here. Why she tried so hard to be there for Daddy and herself, why she spent so much time trying to be there for him, no matter what.

Maya Fey was not her mother. But she desperately wanted to be.


	4. Chapter 4

Trucy let out a sigh as she climbed the stairs to their apartment. She was exhausted. She had been spending twenty hours a day making sure everything was just right for her next show. And there things that were still not ready, still not right, still not magical, that it was hard to justify spending any amount of time away from work.

She was going to go upstairs, crawl into bed and pass out for a couple of hours and then wake up, perfectly refreshed, to give another crack at magic.

"Trucy!"

Athena was laying down on their couch. She had given her a little wave of greeting, but Trucy could not help but feel annoyed by her very presence. Just what was she doing here?

"Hi, Athena!" She chirped. "What a pleasant surprise!"

She folded the book she had been reading on her lap and smiled up at her. "We don't see much of you at the office these days." She said. "So I'd thought I'd stop and say hi!"

She had been deliberately avoiding the office for weeks now. Seeing Athena and Daddy together discussing legal matters wherever they went did nothing but make her blood boil. When was the last time Daddy spent the day with her, talking about her work, her life, her interests? She honestly could not even remember.

And here was Athena, sitting on the couch in front of her, wearing that stupid smile on her face. But the, her smile faded. "Trucy, are you alright?" She asked. She sounded extremely concerned. "You don't look well at all!"

"What are you talking about?" Trucy asked. "I'm fine."

Athena frowned at her. Her hand rose to her earring, and slowly began to probe it, pressing it back and forth.

She was using her power… Trucy realized. She was trying to probe her, analyze how she really felt.

"Trucy…" Athena said slowly. "Have you been working hard?"

She wasn't very good at this. Trucy thought irritably. Daddy or Apollo would have gotten straight to the root of the problem. Athena was just trying to play games with her. "I'm sorry, Athena…" She said softly, her hand across her chest. "But I'm exhausted, I don't really have time for-"

"You can't work all the time, Trucy." Athena said sharply. "Really, we're all worried about you…"

"Don't be." Trucy said, still smiling. "Good night, Athena!"

She raced to her room, and for the first time in many years locked the door behind her. Her heart was racing. She had almost let Athena get to her.

 _We're worried about you._

She and Daddy must be spending all of their free time talking about all sorts of things. She thought, and she just happened to come up in between cases. Daddy could not possibly know just what was she going through or how she was feeling or what she wanted to do and who she was angry at, because he was too busy babying Athena in court to spend any real time with her.

Frustrated, she rolled over on her bed, trying to calm herself down. She had worked seventeen hours today. She would need at least four hours of sleep before she could head back to the studio and try, try, TRY to make the De Fammes into respectable magicians…

The hours passed quickly. Too quickly. Someone was shaking her awake.

"Trucy… Trucy!"

She shook herself awake, messy brown hair falling across her face as she blinked, staring forward. "Daddy!" She said, surprised. Behind him, stood Athena, who was grinning wildly. In her arms she was carrying… wrapped presents.

"Happy birthday, Trucy!" Daddy said, wrapping his arms around her. Surprised, Trucy wrapped her arms around him as well, her eyes wide. Athena grinned at her shocked expression. Birthday… it was her birthday…

"I had completely forgotten!" Trucy moaned. "I was so busy with work I didn't even-"

"We went ahead and arranged for you to have the day off." Athena said brightly. "The De Fammes sounded ecstatic that they didn't have to work today."

A wave of anger flashed through her. Trucy had not given her permission to pull a stunt like that. She did not want the day off, even if it was her birthday. And she certainly did not want to allow the De Fammes an opportunity to be lazy.

But as she looked at Daddy, she could not bring herself to be angry. He looked so happy to be here with her, for them to spend the day together. And that feeling had been sorely missed in recent months.

"That sounds fantastic." She breathed. "Thank you so much!"

They spent the entire day setting things up for the party that would take place later that evening. They spent a very enjoyable morning baking a gorgeous (In her opinion) cake from scratch. None of them were great cooks, but their hard work and determination pulled off. The rest of the food and materials had been gathered that night.

Her eighteenth birthday party, as Athena said, deserved to be the best of her life. She was an adult now, and deserved to be treated as one. Athena, having studied in Europe, had procured a number of exotic wines and beverages that she had never even heard of. "European wine puts American wine to shame." She bragged, prompting Phoenix to point out that Trucy was still too young to drink. "Say what now?" Asked a baffled Athena.

The guests filtered in one by one, and Trucy was annoyed to see that Maya Fey was one of the first to arrive.

"Happy birthday!" She said cheerfully, as she hugged her. Trucy almost pulled away from her contact. She strongly suspected she was only here to speak to Daddy, and her suspicions were soon proven correct. She flounced off three minutes later to offer him a glass of Khu'rainese wine.

Pearl, however, was nowhere to be found. She overheard Maya excitedly tell Nick that Pearl had, at long last, found someone of her own. Trucy wondered whether she would be pregnant the next time they saw each other. She wasn't sure how Daddy would react to that. He treated Pearl almost like a second daughter.

Mr. and Mrs. Gumshoe came next, knocking over things as they went. "How you doing, pal?" The Detective asked.

"You've grown up so much!" Mrs. Maggey Gumshoe gushed. "Dick and I really love your shows… when we can afford to go, that is…"

She chatted with them for a brief while before the next guest arrived, interrupting their talk of Trucy's career.

"Umm… Hello…"

Surprised, she looked up to find Vera Misham standing by them, flushing furiously.

"Apollo… Apollo asked me to come." She murmured quietly. Her eyes darted around the half filled room, nervously. To her, this was a large gathering of people. Trucy could tell her nerves could not handle it.

"He asked me to make you this…"

She held out a neatly wrapped present in front of her. Trucy took it, thanking her. She murmured something, and then disappeared back out the door.

"Who was that?" Athena asked, as she watched her leave. "One of Apollo's friends?"

"You could say that."

"Junie isn't going to be happy…" Athena muttered.

Trucy had not thought about Juniper Woods in quite some time. After Apollo had left them, she mysteriously stopped coming by the office. Trucy wondered whether she had gone to Khu'rain yet.

Next to arrive, to her delight, was Klavier Gavin. She felt a much stronger connection to him than most people, even if they weren't particularly close, due to their similar lines of work. They were both, after all, stage performers.

"Maybe I could take you out for a date sometime, yeah?" He suggested after they were done talking. She giggled. She would consider it, if she had time. Some distance away, Athena scowled at her.

But then a firm, large hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Taking advantage of a barely legal girl, Klavier?" A deep voice rumbled. "I expect better of you."

Klavier grinned as he turned to face his boss, Miles Edgeworth. "Hey, she's a cute kid." He said. "I waited until she was legal, didn't I?"

He was joking, but Edgeworth did not find it amusing. "I would like for you to start focusing more on your work, Klavier." He said. "I will not tolerate your gallivanting about."

Trucy had heard from Daddy that Mr. Gavin and Mr. Edgeworth never got along all that well due to their conflicting personalities. "My work?" Klavier asked, never losing his smile. "I've been handling my cases to the best of my-"

"You refused to take the Sprocket case I assigned you out of fear the family would come after you." Edgeworth responded. "You need to rethink your place in my Prosecutor's office."

The two glared at each other, and Trucy tiptoed away. This was not an argument she wanted to be a part of.

Several more guests slowly trickled in. Jinxie Tenma, when she arrived, asked her whether she had exorcised Apollo. She seemed a little put out when Trucy let her know that he was in Khu'rain. Simon Blackquill, when he arrived, merely gave her a little wave as he went to sample the Japanese wine that Athena had brought, without even wishing her a happy birthday. And then…

"Lamiroir!"

The beautiful singer smiled. "Trucy." She said softly, as she reached out her hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

Trucy smiled, although inwardly she was a little bothered by her unexpected appearance. She knew how time consuming being a perform was, and yet somehow Lamiroir always made time to come and visit… very often, in fact.

When Trucy voiced her concerns, Lamiroir froze. "Actually…." She looked hesitant. Her eyes roamed around the room. Her eye surgery had been successful. "Is Apollo around?" She asked. "I would like a chance to speak with you both."

"Speak with us?" Trucy asked blankly. "Why?"

"I…"

She was suddenly pushed out of the way by the next guest. "Hey, girl!"

She blinked up at the widely grinning man in front of her, unable to place him from anywhere. "Uh, hello?" She asked timidly.

He thrust his hand out towards hers and took it. Lamiroir froze, staring at the man in front of her reproachfully.

"What, do you not remember me, Trucy?" The man asked, smiling widely. "I'm your Dad's friend! The name's Larry Butz!"

She did not recall this man at all, and was sure to let him know.

"Whaaaaat?" He asked. His face warped into a confused expression, as he pulled away from you. "I met you when you were still a little kid." He said. "Do you really not remember? It was right after you were adopted."

She strained her memory, trying to remember. "No… I don't remember." She said.

"Whaaaaat?"

His face screwed up again. Lamiroir, knowing that her time with Trucy was over, moved over to a nearby couch and sat down, looking dejected. Daddy shot her a curious look.

"Alright, it was a long time ago… No big deal." He said. He was sweating, she noticed. "Well… Uh... Hey! Have you had a drink yet?"

She shook her head, wondering what was going through his mind.

"You can't have an eighteenth birthday party without a drink." He said brightly, as he grabbed a glass out of Miles Edgeworth's hand (Who rolled his eyes, and offered it to her. "Bottoms up!"

She took it, wondering whether or not she should hand it back to Mr. Edgeworth, before deciding that she should just drink it. She did so, quaffing it in one gulp. Her throat burned as she drank, and she coughed wildly.

"There you go!" Larry said, patting her on the back. "Your first drink! You're a real woman now!"

He looked very pleased about something, but Trucy could not see what. The drink did not taste particularly good, and it really stung her taste buds. Maybe she should have a drink of water or something. She rather thought it didn't agree with her at all.

"Do you want another?" He asked eagerly, leading her to the little table where Athena had set the drinks. "Another brand, maybe?"

He was pouring her next drink before she even knew what was happening. She shook her head. "N-no." She said. "I don't want…"

"You're only eighteen once!" He said cheerfully, as he handed her the little glass. "Drink up!"

She cast a look behind her, hoping that someone out there would jump in and save her from this situation, but everyone else was distracted. Daddy had left the room with Lamiroir and Maya Fey. Blackquill was still drinking, and most of the others had left by now. The party was winding down.

Larry Butz stared at her expectantly. She frowned, wondering whether she could use some kind of trick to make him think she was drinking,

But before she knew it, he had taken her hands and pushed the glass gently to her lips. The liquid passed through, and she coughed again. The flavor was nicer this time.

"Don't be shy!" Larry said cheerfully. "I could tell you liked that one more!"

He was already filling the glass again. Trucy almost protested, but before she knew what was happening the glass was thrust in her hand again.

"Let loose and have fun!"

He would not leave her alone. She realized, horrified. He would not let her stop drinking…

And Drinking…

And Drinking…

It was not long until her head was throbbing. She begged to stop, her voice slurred.

"Can you not handle anymore?" He asked. He looked around the room, his expression coy. "Alright." He said. "You're not feeling well, you should go up to bed."

He wrapped his arm around her and led her to her room, some distance away. Trucy had trouble even walking straight. She supposed she should thank him, or be angry, or SOMETHING, but all she cared about was getting into bed as soon as possible.

They entered her room and he led her to her bed, his arm still wrapped tightly around her.

"I'm so glad you're eighteen now, Trucy." He said. "Do you know what I've been wanting to tell you, ever since I first saw you?"

She blinked up at him, unable to answer him.

"That I love you." He said, smiling brightly. "Society can't keep us apart anymore, you know."

He leaned forward, and his lips met hers. She tried to push him away, but lacked the strength. Her arms flopped helplessly at her side.

He pushed her across the bed and… and…

He raped her. A lot. Trucy tried her best to scream out, but a rough hand pressed over her mouth, preventing her from making a sound.

And then, and then, it was over. Trucy lay there under him, unable to move, as he smiled down at her as he redressed her.

"Nick wouldn't approve." He said. "This is between us, okay?"

He stepped out of the room, quietly, and was gone before she could even do anything.

She did not feel horror. She did not feel shame. She simply felt numb. What had just happened? How had it happened?

She sat there, her thoughts muddied and murky, as the hours passed. Before long, she had passed out.

When she woke up, someone was sitting by her bed. "Trucy?"

It was Daddy. She tried to speak, but no words came out.

"Did you have too much to drink?" He asked, concerned. "I told Athena to put that stuff away…"

Of course she had had too much to drink. It had been forced on her.

"If you're not feeling well, that's fine, but your presents will be waiting for you when you get up." He said. "The cake, too."

She had not even had a slice of that cake they had baked together that morning. All because of that man. The man who took her, right in this very bed, without a thought about what she wanted.

She opened her mouth, trying desperately to scream, shout, say anything that would demonstrate how she was really feeling, but nothing came out. Larry had said he was a friend of Daddy's… if she told him what had happened, Daddy would be heartbroken. She would ruin this wonderful day they had shared together.

"Daddy…" She murmured. "Let's have more days like this."

He smiled at her. "We will." He promised, gripping her hand tightly. "I will always be here for you."


	5. Chapter 5

Trucy threw herself back into her work without any consideration for her well being at all. The first day was an absolute nightmare. Her head ached from the hangover, and she found herself shying away from men she had been working with for months.

But she forced herself through the situation. It was over now. She had made her choice to not report what had happened to her and she would have to live with that for the rest of her life. She felt disgusted with herself as she, dreading the absolute worst case scenario, checked herself for diseases or an unwanted pregnancy.

She let out a sigh of relief when both tests came back negative. The instant she herself forgot what had happened, it would be like nothing terrible had happened. Daddy would not have to worry…

Desperate to distract herself, she threw herself back into her work with gusto. The De Fammes had spent their day off lounging about not doing much of anything and she had to spent far too much time making up for what they had not covered the day before. The hours rolled by, and by the time she allowed them to leave they could barely keep their eyes open.

Trucy herself was exhausted, but she had to force herself to go home. Four hours of sleep tonight… four hours, and then she would be right back up and working again. She slipped into her sleeping things as quickly as possible, set her clock, and passed out.

She was up as soon as the alarm rang, She got ready, just as quickly as she had been for bed, and was out the door before anyone else had even woken up. She had nothing for breakfast. She had eaten a couple of hours before, and could put in a little work before lunch.

Anything to keep her mind off of what had happened…

She stopped mid step, her eyes almost tearing up at the memory. No… she could not let herself be distracted. Not by this, not be anything.

And she didn't. She worked until she couldn't work anymore, took a short lunch break, and then threw herself back into it. Her fingers were aching as she raised her staff again, trying to puzzle out how the next trick should work-

"Fraulein."

She dropped the staff, surprised, as she whirled around to see Klavier Gavin. He smiled at her, warmly. "Is now a bad time?"

"Yes, actually." She told him. The De Famme twin nearby, who she knew to be Betty, watched them with interest. "I'm working."

"You are." He said. "But too hard. Come on, you need to relax a little."

She squeezed her hands together in fists, her eyes glaring at him intently. The last man who had said that to her had… had…

She almost broke down crying, right then and there.

"Come on." Klavier cajoled, as he took her arm. "Let yourself have a break."

She slumped over, unwilling to resist, as she was dragged off set and back into the street, still in her show things.

"What are you doing here, Mr. Gavin?" She asked, trying to sound less irritable than she felt. "I really need to work-"

"You really need to take a break." Gavin interjected. "You're working your staff to the bone."

He gestured to a nearby De Famme twin, who had taken opportunity to take a nap while standing, leaning against a nearby stage prop for support.

"They can't be expected to get better like this." Klavier told her. "And the same goes for you. You look terrible."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter how I look NOW." She said. "But we need to get this show off the ground. If I don't, I-"

"Let's talk about it outside." Klavier said firmly, taking her arm and dragging her away. "Dismissed!" He called out behind his shoulder.

Trucy was far too small to resist. However, she made her discontent clear. "We are NOT dismissed, we're nowhere near ready, I want everything to be perfect-"

"Nothing is ever perfect." Klavier told her dryly. "Deal with it."

Her shoulders drooped. "But Mr. Gavin, I'm a professional-"

"That doesn't mean you can push yourself like this and expect to get any better." Klavier told her. "Herr Forehead has never lost a single case in Khu'rain, despite that country's history with lawyers." He smirked, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "Look, I know you want to do well with your magic, but this little set back with the media isn't going to last forever. You were found Not Guilty after all, and people loved your show. The producers only canned it because of how Mr. Retinz slandered you. It had nothing to do with the show itself. Doing this to your staff isn't doing you any favors for your image."

He went on a little bit to describe Max Galactica's falling out with the Berry Big Circus and how he had fallen from grace due to no one wanting to work with him, but Trucy barely registered him. For the first time in weeks, her thoughts settled on the last surviving member of Troupe Gramarye. Mr. Reus.

Mr. Gavin had not mentioned him only in passing, but the mere mention of his alter ego deeply upset her.

" _Curse those Gramaryes! Even now they wound me…."_

She remembered how she had told him that he couldn't call himself a magician, that he brought great shame upon the troupe, that her grandfather was right to kick him out.

But not even three days before, she had deeply admired him. She had seen his talents as a magician first hand, had even envied him. He had been the only link to her family, her REAL family, she had had in her professional life.

She loved Daddy, but he knew nothing of magic. Knew nothing about what it meant to her, to her fans, to the troupe at large. Somehow, despite being together through the toughest times, he still knew very little about her. Mr. Reus, she had hoped, would someday help her fill that hole in her heart. Someone who could be there in the only way her Daddy couldn't. To appreciate her own unique talents and skill as a magician.

He had told her as much. There, on the stand. If it wasn't for Apollo, who was able to somehow see right through him, she would not be standing here now.

Apollo… she owed him so much. She had let her heart get stomped on by someone she thought she could trust, and-

"Trucy?" Klavier asked, coming to a stop. "Are you feeling alright?"

She smiled at him. "I was just thinking…" She was unable to voice her thoughts about Mr. Reus out loud. It was old news to everyone by now, she was sure. "About Polly, actually."

"Oh." Klavier seemed a little taken aback by that. "You miss him too, huh?"

"Too?" She asked curiously. "You mean-"

Klavier laughed. "My favorite attorney and my favorite detective both jumped ship to go overseas. Court isn't the same without them." It was a hollow laugh. Something deeper was bothering him.

"Ema has made the move permanent then?" That surprised her. Ema was always talking about how much she disliked working with Nahyuta due to their completely different worldviews.

"Ja… Prosecutor Sahdmadi persuaded her to stay in Khu'rain. He says she can do a lot to improve the forensics program there." Klavier, for the briefest of moments, looked rather disgruntled by this. Trucy almost giggled. Was he jealous?

"That was a good move on his part." Trucy said. "She's one of a kind. Daddy is quite fond of her." She could think of no higher praise than that.

"Mr. Edgeworth agrees. I mean…" He brushed his hair. "We're short on good prosecutors, not good forensic investigators. It was a good idea."

"Have you to been to Khu'rain at all?" Trucy asked him. "Since Ga'ran was dethroned?"

"I've never been, actually." Klavier said. "I've been busy at home." An expression of deep sorrow crossed his face for the briefest of moments. "I have… family issues."

Trucy stared at him, not sure what he meant. Then it hit her. Kristoph was going to be executed soon.

"Klavier, I'm so sorry…"

He waved his hand away at her. "I don't want to talk about it." He said shortly. Trucy understood, and merely nodded in response. It must have been very hard for him, despite the history they shared together. "Especially not with-"

He shook his head. Trucy lay a comforting arm on his shoulder. She said nothing. Kristoph was a criminal. They both knew that. But Klavier was his brother, and on some level he still cared about him. In spite of everything.

Klavier let out a dry laugh, brushing his eyes. "It's funny." He said. "That you're the one to be here for me in my weakest moment. After all I've done to you."

She had to think about what he was talking about then as well. Somehow, she had completely forgotten that he was the one who prosecuted Zak and got Daddy disbarred, essentially making her an orphan.

"No one blames you for that." She said quietly. "It's not your fault."

They stood in silence there, on the empty street, for several minutes. Finally, Klavier seemed to compose himself. He straightened himself and managed a smile.

"This isn't how I imagined our first date would go."

She giggled. "No, no. Of course not. We'll do something more fun next time."

"So there will be a next time."

"Of course." She said quickly. "Of course."

…

She got home much earlier than usual, and in a much better mood. Klavier had been right. A little bit of time off was what she needed. She considered taking the next day off, but decided against it. The De Fammes did need TO practice, after all. Perhaps shortening their hours would be beneficial…

Daddy was very pleased to find her home. "Trucy!" He said, as she stepped in through the door. "You're home!"

She smiled. Her hat lay discarded on the table in front of her. "Hello, Daddy."

Behind him, Pearl Fey stood, looking very pleased indeed. "Hello Trucy!" She said cheerfully. Trucy smiled at her as she sat down on the couch next to her. Pearl smelled pleasant. She had been using perfume, or something.

"Have you seen Athena today?" Daddy asked her. Trucy shook her head. "I can't get a hold of her." He said glumly. "I'm worried."

Worried, about Athena? What for?

"I'm going to go look for her." Daddy said. "Pearl, could you wait with Trucy, please?"

Pearl nodded, smiling radiantly. "We could clean the office for you, Mr. Nick!"

Trucy groaned. She was many things, but a neat freak she was not. She could never find her things once Pearl started getting her hands on them.

"I'm sure she just has her phone shut off or something." Daddy told them. "We'll all go out to dinner once we find her."

Trucy nodded. Admittedly, her eyes were already drooping. She wasn't sure if she had the energy to get up and go anywhere.

Pearl, sadly, did not seem to want to let her rest. Although she did not expect Trucy to help clean (She knew her too well for that) her bustling about, moving things around, and sweeping made it impossible to relax.

Pearl, perhaps realizing this, stopped before the task was done and sat by her again. "Are you feeling alright, Trucy?" She asked softly.

"Yes… just really tired." She had not wanted to admit it, but pushing herself to run off of four hours a sleep had taken its toll on her. Pearl nodded sympathetically.

"I know how it feels." She said. "My Spirit Medium training requires a lot of dedication."

Trucy opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Although she found Pearl perfectly tolerable, especially compared to Maya, the one thing she could not overlook about either of them was their peculiar belief that they could channel the dead. Their religion seemed to be based around the Khu'rainist idea that the dead could be brought back for a short time to converse with the living.

It was all a hoax, of course. The Royal Queen of Khu'rain herself was proven in court to not be able to channel spirits, and Trucy strongly suspected that neither of the Feys could either. If she could channel the dead, she would be doing it all the time in her shows. She could channel the spirit of the Jammin' Ninja's actor and have him actually finish his series.

The fact that the Feys were dirt poor and never seemed to channel spirits in her presence spoke volumes. It was some kind of trick, it had to be. There was no other explanation.

Trucy, feeling unusually bold, decided to challenge her. "Pearl, I was wondering…" She swallowed, her mouth dry. "Could you… channel a spirit for me?"

As she expected, Pearl suddenly seized up. "I'm… not sure." She said, hesitatingly. "I haven't been training as much for the past few months, and I think my powers are starting to wane."

Trucy had assumed as much.

"I see." She said slowly. "So I'll never get the chance to speak to my Mother then…"

She looked downward, pretending to be sad, as Pearl stared sadly at her. "I could try it." She offered, her voice soft and reassuring. "But I can't promise you results. I just need a face and a name."

Of course she couldn't. Trucy thought bitterly, as she pushed through her clothes and pulled out the old picture of her Mother, Thalassa Gramayre, from behind her shelf. She presented it to Pearl, who solemnly took it, staring at it intently.

"What's the matter?" Trucy asked coolly.

"It's nothing." Pearl said slowly, her eyes examining the photo with interest. "It's just… I think I've seen this woman before."

She stared at it for a moment longer.

"She was a stellar magician." Trucy said. "You must have seen her on TV when you were younger, perhaps."

"I never even saw a TV before I was eight." Pearl insisted. "And that was after she disappeared, right?"

"Can you channel her, or not?" Trucy asked.

Pearl glanced at the photo one last time, nodding. "I'll… I'll give it a shot." She said. "Please…"

She gestured to the floor in front of her. Trucy kneeled down on the ground, and Pearl followed suit, facing her.

"Now." She said. "Please understand that I have no control over what the spirit says or does. It is not bound by mortal laws, and spirits have been known to commit terrible crimes they would never have performed in real life."

Trucy didn't believe a word of this, but nodded to show that she understood.

"Now…. Let us begin."

Pearl raised her arms over her head and then brought them down to her side. "Thalassa Gramarye… return to us!"

She thrust her hands together. Absolutely nothing happened.

The two sat in silence for a while, mulling over the situation.

"How strange." Pearl said. "I didn't feel a thing."

Trucy didn't find this particularly strange at all.

"I haven't felt this way since… since…" She shook her head.. "Have my powers really weakened this much?" She asked. "I had no idea…"

She looked troubled. Trucy stood up, turning away from her.

"I'm so sorry, Trucy." Pearl said. " Mystic Maya is much more powerful than I am. Perhaps she could-"

"No matter what you may say, the outcome will always be the same." Trucy said slowly. "People don't come back from the dead, Pearl. You're not helping anyone by pretending they can."

She headed to her room, slamming the door behind her, leaving Pearl to stare, wide eyed, after her.

….

Authors note:

Trigger warning! Trucy got raped last chapter!

All joking aside, I was really anxious to put out this next chapter as soon as possible, especially after all the great feed back I got, but real life got in the way, I'm afraid. I will come up front and let you all know that I AM INDEED a real world novelist, and do have a completed manuscript that I'm trying to get published. This means that I have problems making time to work on pure, passion projects like this when I could… you know, be doing something that may make me money someday.

But yes, let's talk a little about the reality of what this story actually is. As I'm sure you've gathered by now, this fic is meant to be very, very, very, very, very dark and disturbing. I cannot stress this enough. My goal, setting out, was to create the darkest Ace Attorney fic out there, and I honestly feel like I've already succeeded in some ways. I don't think this kind of story is particularly common, and I'm really excited to create something so unique and different than what you may be used to. Again, if you were disturbed by Trucy Wright getting raped by Larry Butz and never want to see anything like that again…. You are reading the wrong story. I stress that this is very much an M rated story and will deal with many adult topics, many of which will be shown in a very, very, very dark light.

So yeah, if you think Trucy is going to wake up a few chapters later and realize that getting Butzed was nothing but a bad dream, sorry. It's just not going to happen.

I think I touched on what inspired this story in this chapter. Can you pick up on what it is? Kudos to anyone who picks up on it.

Special thanks to Juusan13, whose feedback I really appreciated, and is actually the main reason you got a new chapter so soon. This would have been written in like, a week if I had had my way.

Ah yes, one last thing. Although I do try to keep characters and their history as close to canon as possible, I have a tendency to draw on certain character traits and exaggerate them to ludicrous degrees. Larry being a rapist, for example, came about because I was disgusted with him trying to run off with a twenty one year old bride. And how he called Pearl cute when she was like, nine. Although I think I'm proud of certain characterization changes I've made in the story, particularly Trucy's, I feel as if certain characters from the games I don't like as much (Namely Apollo Justice, Investigations, and Justice for All) won't nearly be as interesting takes on the characters as the ones from the games I replay constantly. Although I have played all the games (Bar Investigations 2 and the Sherlock Holmes games because Capcom loves sucking dicks) I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with Klavier's characterization in this chapter, for example. I can't remember a thing about what his relationship with Kristoph was actually like, and I just made up the dialogue from what I remembered. And I had to watch a video of case 6-2 to refresh my memory of what exactly Reus said to Trucy, because I can't be bothered to redownload the game onto my 3DS just for research purposes.

That game really should have been released physically. Leave a review if you agree.


	6. Chapter 6

Trucy was standing in the stands of Khu'rain, looking down at the courtroom below. Apollo and Daddy stood on one side, and on the other stood the Queen of Khu'rain… Ga'ran sigatar Khu'rain.

She was sweating, her hand clenched. She could not tear her eyes from Daddy, who was standing down there, by Apollo's side. If they lost, if they lost, if they lost, he would- he would- he would.

"Trucy."

She looked up, her eyes wide, as a man behind her touched her shoulder. It was Miles Edgeworth.

"Come with me." He said. His voice was soft, deep, and comforting. Trucy turned away from him, back to the trial.

"Trucy, please…"

He managed to pull her away, in spite of reluctance, and took her back out into the hall. And then, right there, in front of the crowd, Trucy broke down into tears.

"You should never have come." Edgeworth said softly, as he gently led her to a wooden bench. They sat down together, his hand on her shoulder. "No daughter should have to go through something like this."

"Why…. Why did he do this?" She had asked him, her voice cracking. "If we lose, they'll kill him!"

"I understand completely." Edgeworth said smoothly. "Wright is being very reckless, but he has faith in Mr. Justice to do well. You have nothing to worry about."

He sounded completely confident in the situation, despite the severity of the situation. But Trucy could not understand why. "If Dhurke is found guilty…!"

"He will not be." Edgeworth told her softly. "Please…"

Trucy had been even more terrified that day than she had been at her own trial. Somehow, the thought of living her life without Daddy or Apollo by her side terrified her more than losing her own. She could not bring herself to drag herself back into the courtroom. She had sat out in the lobby, alone, until Apollo came back out, triumphant…

She woke up in a cold sweat. She struggled vainly, trying to let out a scream as a hand clamped down on her mouth.

"Shhhh. It's me, Trucy! Did you miss me!"

Trucy struggled, but found that the man's weight on top of her was too much. She could not even move a muscle.

The blinds of her window, the ones that she usually kept open, had been drawn. The door she had been locking was sitting ajar. And the man she desperately spent the last few weeks trying to forget had returned.

She could not struggle or even scream. All she could do was sit there and take it. She was fully sober this time, and by the time he was done with her she was in tears.

He lay on top of her for a while, whispering quiet, inaudible words to her, before sliding his pants back on and stepping out of the room. It had all happened so fast, she could barely wrap her mind around it.

"That was fun, Trucy! Let's do it again!"

She felt as if she should scream. She felt that she should scream and let someone, anyone, know that this was happening to her. But she could not do it. The shame was too great. She was so used to hiding her true feelings about the world, the people in it, and how she felt about anything in her life that her mouth stayed shut.

"Remember, don't tell Nick!"

And then he was gone, shutting the door behind her. Trucy's head fell on the pillow, her sobs barely audible. This was… this was terrible. If Daddy learned his friend had done this to her, he would be so upset. She could not let him find out. She would not. He had gone through so much because of her. He didn't deserve to be hurt anymore.

She cleaned herself off and changed her clothes, trying her hardest to smile at the mirror. She felt as if she could cry. And before long, she was at work. As if nothing had happened.

No… as long as no one else knew, nothing HAD happened.

She went about her life with that mindset, forcing herself to ignore the issue. She was stronger than this. She had gone through so much worse in her life.

Athena, however, was making this difficult.

"He's such a creep." Athena was saying, slamming her hand on the table. "He's your age, isn't he? And he won't leave me alone."

Daddy nodded, crossing his arms. "It did not cross my mind during the Sprocket case…." He admitted. "He's still chasing women as he always has, despite his age. He hasn't changed at all."

"He's been doing this for a long time, then?"

"Oh yeah." Maya said, leaning across the table, smirking. "He says things to me all the time, too. He's harmless, really."

"Really?" Athena asked, sounding doubtful. "Did he ever show up at the office just to talk to you?"

"Not as a I recall, no. He was always in trouble back in the day, wasn't he Nick?"

"That's true." He said. "He was on the stand a lot when I was first starting out. He was my first client, actually."

Trucy stiffened, almost dropping her spoon. She had not known that. If Daddy ever learned that his first ever client, one that he found innocent, would go behind his back and do something so terrible…. He would be so distraught.

"He talks to me all the time." Athena said, sounding annoyed. "And he never leaves me alone. And he shows up everywhere, too… I was with Junie the other day, and he popped out of nowhere to bother us. She wasn't happy. You know how shy she can be, Mr. Wright, but Butz didn't care about that at all. He was all up in her face like…"

Athena leaned forward closer to them both, putting on a wide eyed expression. "Hey there beautiful ladies!" She said, in an uncanny impression of Larry's voice. "Mind if I join you?"

"What did you do?" Maya asked, interested.

"I shoved him into an open elevator and shut it on him."

The table burst out laughing. Athena grinned wildly. "He deserved it." She said. "He's been harassing me for far too long."

Trucy was the only one who had not laughed. Athena, noticing this, turned to face her. "Trucy, is something wrong?" She asked. "You've been really quiet."

"No." Trucy said. "Nothing's wrong."

Athena's eyes narrowed. Trucy realized too late that it would have been much better to give a nonverbal answer in her presence. "Are you sure?" Athena probed, as she prodded her earring thoughtfully. "Has anything been bother you lately?"

Trucy shook her head.

"I see." Athena said. Trucy did not let her horror show on her face. She kept it impassive, as if she was simply distracted or not amused by the story.

Inwardly, however, she was completely horrified. If Athena were to ever uncover her secret, over what had happened between her and Butz… she could scarcely imagine the pain it would cause their family. What it would do to Daddy.

She could not let Athena probe her any further. But she also could not act suspiciously.

"How is work, Trucy?" Athena asked. "I've been seeing you around the office more."

She had been taking it a little bit easier these days. She was not pulling four hour nights anymore. Klavier had talked her out of working that much. She now slept six.

But before Trucy could answer, a knock came at the door. It was Pearl, back from the store with a fresh set of cleaning supplies. She did not meet Trucy's gaze. They had not spoken at all since the incident the other day.

"Pearl!" Maya said. "What took you so long?"

"Well… well I…"

She began to jabber on about something wonderful that had happened to her on the way to the store, but Trucy tuned her out. She sat at the table for a while longer, pretending to be invested in the conversation, before stepping outside.

Athena watched her intently as she left. Trucy pretended to not notice as she slid out the door and out into the street.

Not only was Athena taking up all of Daddy's time, to the point where Trucy rarely had him alone for herself anymore, she was not probing into matters that didn't concern her. So what if Trucy was struggling with her life? It was not her problem. Trucy would rather be left alone.

Her phone beeped. She checked it, hoping it would be from someone from work, but it was from Athena. Trucy deleted it without reading it, knowing full well that Athena likely now had a very good idea that something was going horribly wrong with her life.

Her feet padded along past the graves of the cemetery. She found herself in front of Iris Wright's grave once again. The Mother that she never knew.

She did not believe in ghosts, but still she spoke aloud to the grave as if it were a person. "Hello Mommy!" She said, feigning cheer. "Things are tough for me right now, but I'm still thinking about you."

And she had been. Although she and Iris had never met, and although Daddy never spoke about her, Trucy had spent a lot of her wayward thoughts thinking about her. Wondering just what their life would have been like if she had still been alive. She knew very little about Iris. No one she had spoken too seemed to know anything about her, and those who did, such as Maya Fey, didn't want to talk about her. There was a lot of pain there.

"Is it possible to love someone you never met?" Trucy wondered aloud. She felt more attached to her idea of who Iris was than actual people she knew and spoke with regularly. Maya Fey, Athena, and now even Pearl were increasingly becoming people she disliked being around. These were people that she did not want in her life.

She had begun to cry, and suddenly ashamed, turned around, away from the grave.

And then she noticed the woman standing some distance away

She was a tall woman. Wrapped in a thick dirty cloak with a scarf and sunglasses that obscured her face. She had been standing at another grave nearby, and had set flowers down. And now she was walking over here.

Trucy stiffened. Unlike most girls, she distrusted strange women just as much as strange men. The woman seemed to be staring at her, behind the thick sunglasses.

"You…. are Phoenix Wright's daughter, aren't you?"

The question seemed to almost come out of nowhere. The words were clear and powerful.

Trucy did not let herself be intimidated by her. "I am." She said. "His adopted daughter, at any rate."

The woman stared at her intently. "Yes." She said. "I have heard about you."

She stepped forward, closer to her, and stood next to her at the grave, looking down at Iris' name. "I never knew her either." She said. "I wish I could help you, but I know nothing about her. No one does."

"No one does….?" Trucy repeated, sounding baffled.

"She lived a strange life." The woman told her. "A very pained, lonely life. I doubt even your father understood her completely."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It is not my place to say." The woman said. "Perhaps Miles Edgeworth could help you."

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Trucy repeated. "What would he know about…?"

"I understand the situation you find yourself in." The woman said. "It is…. hard, for people to talk about old wounds this way. Make no mistake, your father and mother loved each other. But it was very painful. For both of them."

Trucy clenched her fist. "You didn't answer my question." She said. "What would Mr. Edgeworth know about-?"

"He knows everything about that case." The woman answered. "You will just have to ask him. And then perhaps you will realize just how hard it is for your Father to talk to you about his life with her."

She turned away. Trucy stepped forward, after her. "Wait a minute." Trucy said. "Who are you? How do you know who I am? How do you know us?"

"I sing the blues." The woman said, without turning around. "And as for how I know your father…" She bent her head, unravelling her scarf and revealing her face. "He was the greatest lawyer I've ever known."

Trucy stared at the woman's face, unable to properly place it. It did, however, remind her of someone else she knew. "Ema?" She asked. The woman gave her a soft smile, but did not answer.

"The law isn't perfect, Trucy." She said. "Please don't be hard on Miles."

She turned away. Trucy almost wanted to follow her and ask her more questions, but she knew, deep down, that the conversation was over.

She cast one last look at the grave behind her, committing the new information to memory before checking out the grave the woman had been standing at.

It had been Mia Fey's grave. Trucy stared at it, wondering what it could all mean. Iris…. She and Daddy had loved each other, but something had gone terribly wrong.

But wrong?"

Beep.

Her phone went off again. Trucy, despite her reverie, checked it out.

" _The last ever Berry Big Circus is in town! Invite a friend!"_

 _-Daddy_

She smiled to herself, as she sent another message to Klavier, asking him to come along. Although Athena and Maya Fey and very likely Pearl would be coming along as well, she could not begrudge Daddy for wanting to do something with her. As a family.

As long as she had that, she needed nothing more.


	7. Chapter 7

Trucy had never even heard of the Berry Big Circus. She, being raised in a performance troupe herself, did not actually spend much time at all watching other entertainers work. To Troupe Gramarye, these other people were the enemy. Supporting them would be a sign of weakness. A sing of neglecting to improve their own craft.

Deep inside, Trucy felt a little guilty. She was wearing a little white dress that she hardly ever had the chance to wear. Most girls would feel elated at the opportunity, she imagined, but Trucy felt awkward and almost naked without her hat and cape. Klavier did not seem to mind. In fact, he was pretty adamant about how it was a nice look for her.

Outwardly, Trucy was pleased, but inwardly she felt that Klavier didn't understand the issue. She was not uneasy because she thought she looked terrible in this look. She was uneasy because she felt like she wasn't being true to herself.

Athena, thankfully, seemed to have her hands full with dealing with Juniper today. She wasn't badgering Trucy as she usually did these days. Instead they were having a quiet discussion about, what else, Apollo.

"Have you seen Apollo lately?" Juniper asked Athena. "I feel as if he's…. never coming back."

She was looking noticeably distressed. Every time Trucy saw her, she never looked happy about anything. And every time, it was plainly obvious to everyone just what was wrong. In fact, Trucy rarely heard her speak of anything else.

"Eventually, I'm sure." Athena said. Outwardly, she was being supportive, but Trucy got the impression that she was beginning to feel a little disgruntled about her friend's obsession with her former co-worker. "Hey, look at that." She said, gesturing to small, seedy looking man messing about with a puppet. "What's that?"

Juniper followed behind her, leaving the others behind.

"H-hey, wait!" Daddy said, waving them back. "Stay with the group, I don't want to get separated."

Trucy laughed, in spite of herself. Klavier wrapped his arm around her and she leaned into him, enjoying his company.

"Nick has always been a worrywart." Maya joked, laughing, as he dashed over to them. "It's in his nature." Trucy nodded, smiling a little.

"I haven't been here since I was a child." Pearl said at last. "Such wonderful memories…"

She smiled at her guest, a boy that Trucy did not know. "Have you ever been?" She asked. He smirked.

"If I did, I don't remember." He claimed. "I was all about the Steel Samurai back then..."

"You still are, in fact." Maya said, gesturing to his shirt. He scowled at her playfully. Sometimes Trucy thought that the boy and Maya got along better than he and Pearl did.

Pearl turned to Trucy. "There was this wonderful magician here ten years ago." She said. Trucy had made it her policy to not speak to Pearl except when necessary. But today, Pearl hit the perfect mark. Trucy found herself almost immediately opening up to her.

"Really?" Trucy asked, intrigued. "What was his name? Maybe I know him."

"His name was..." Pearl frowned, bending over deep in thought. "His name was…"

"It was Max Galactica, Pearl." Maya told her. "Nick defended him, remember?"

"Oh yes." Pearl said, brightening up immediately. "Max Galactica. He did all these really amazing flying tricks…"

She had heard of Max Galactica. In fact, he had grown to be a rather famous magician in his own right. Trucy had never met him in person, or seen him perform, but she heard his name everywhere. She had known that Daddy had defended him successfully at one point, but she had no idea he had once been involved in this particular circus.

She looked back to Daddy, who had frowned. "I barely remember the show itself." He murmured. "And the case…" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I've completely forgotten."

Trucy smiled widely. "But Daddy, surely you remember whether or not he was a better magician than me?"

Daddy smiled back. "Of course I remember that much. No one is better than you, Trucy."

Trucy laughed. She pushed herself away from Klavier and struck a pose. "Even the Amazing Max Galactica is no match for Trucy Wright, Ace Magician!"

The group laughed. It was a wonderful moment. Trucy felt her heart swell. Despite her mixed feelings about the group around them, she was feeling almost like a little girl again, enjoying the day with her daddy.

"Mr. Wright?"

Daddy froze as the sound of his name hit his ears. The group turned to face the newcomer.

"Yes?" Daddy asked, as he observed the new arrival.

Trucy could not see the arrival from where she was standing. Maya was standing in the way, looking very surprised. She had to step around her to get a better look at the woman who had spoken.

The young woman was an exceptionally beautiful blonde woman. She could not be much older than Trucy, but she seemed to nearly glow with positive energy and optimism. Trucy could not pull her eyes off of her.

"Oh..!"

Maya stepped forward, smiling brightly. "I remember you!" She chirped. "Nick, it's Regina!"

Regina looked at her quizzically, her head cocked to the side. "Ummm… I'm sorry… but have we met?" Maya reeled back, looking surprised. "Wha-" She frowned, glaring at Regina with an intense expression. "It's me, Maya!" She said. "I worked with Nick on that case!"

"Maya?" The girl repeated blankly. "But you look so… old."

Maya stared at her incredulously before turning away, looking downright downtrodden. "O-old…?"

"Anyway, Mr. Wright…"

Regina turned back to him, smiling warmly while Maya stared straight ahead, looking shell shocked by what she had just been told. "We've been waiting for you!"

"…For me?"

"Yes!" Regina chirped. "Lawrence has been trying to track you down all year… something wonderful has happened!"

"Something wonderful…?"

"Yes!" Regina chirped. "Please… stop by and chat with us after the show. It'll be wonderful to talk with you again."

She gave one last wave to them and walked away. Trucy watched her go, still unable to tear her eyes off of her.

"Who was that, Mr. Wright?" Athena asked curiously. She tapped her earring thoughtfully, a sure sign that she was thinking deeply about what the girl had told them. Or, perhaps more accurately, how she had said it.

"Regina Berry." He told them. "She was involved in the Max Galactica case."

"Was she really?" Trucy, intrigued, joined the conversation. "Does she know him, then?"

"She does." Daddy told her, smiling. "Do you want to meet him?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, you can come with Maya and I tonight. I hope you don't mind, everyone… but I think it's best we don't swamp them with guests. We'll split up after the show, alright?"

Athena smirked at Trucy, and then gave a glance towards Klavier. Trucy, not understanding what she meant, gave her a strange look. She sighed and looked away, shaking her head.

"That sounds like a plan." She chirped. "Pearl, Cody… Don't get into trouble, alright?"

"N-no, of course not."

"I'm nothing but trouble!"

Pearl gave him a glare, before breaking down into giggles. Maya smiled. "I mean it, you two." She said. "Pearl, don't stay out too late. Alright?"

The Berry Big Circus had clearly seen better days. Many of the performers seemed to be at an advanced age, many of the props looked old and worn, and many of the acts seemed sub-par at best. But in one avenue, the show took her breath away.

Regina let out a cry as she stepped up onto the podium. "Ken, please! You mustn't!"

The red-maned lion, a powerful, fierce looking thing, snarled at the opposing black-maned lion. It pounced, knocking the thing aside with its paw as if it was attacking it. Trucy gasped. It almost looked real. And to the people watching, it was.

"Ken, please!" Regina pleaded with the lion. "If you kill him, you'll be just like him!"

The lion let out a powerful roar, and pushed her aside with his head. She fell to the ground with a cry, and then the stage went dark.

When the stage was re-lit again, Ken the lion was alone. Sean the lion had, in less than fifteen seconds, been corralled off the stage and replaced with a skull.

"Ken…" Regina whimpered, pulling away from him. "Now you'll never be human again…"

Trucy bit her lip, amazed at the level of control the girl had over her animals. Trucy was no stranger to working with animals, particularly birds, and had thought herself an expert at the craft. But no… compared to this woman, she was a complete amateur.

The lions were the stars of the show, of course, but Regina had also expertly trained other animals to perform tasks that she had never seen before. Birds would descend from above and land around Ken, not frightened of him at all. Elephants would wield swords with their trunks and duel with each other. And then, all too soon, the act came to an end. Ken the Lion had taken a human form, a handsome young man, and taken Regina as his bride. The End.

Trucy had never clapped so hard in her life.

"Did you like the show?" Daddy asked her as they left the tent. Trucy nodded vigorously.

"What a talent." She gushed, her eyes wide. "I've never seen anyone use animals like that…."

She began to prattle on and on about the technical aspects of what Regina had done, and Daddy tried his best to follow along, but it was simply too much for him.

"Trucy." Maya interrupted, touching her arm. "We're meeting her tonight, remember? You can tell her how much you enjoyed the act then."

Trucy nodded vigorously.

They said their good-byes to the others and made their way downward, through the tent itself.

"I wish she had the foresight to tell us where we were meeting." Daddy lamented, as they looked around. "She was always so careless about things like that."

"Some things never change, huh Nick?" Maya chirped happily, as they looked around the dark tents. It was quite an eerie atmosphere, Trucy thought. Like anything could just jump out at them from the shadows.

"Mr. Wright!"

The girl, Regina, stepped out from behind a tent, waving frantically. "I've been looking all over for you!"

The three stepped over to them. Trucy found herself seize up as she looked at this girl. Suddenly she felt extremely shy, yet pleased to be in her presence.

"Regina." Daddy said, smiling widely. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"And you as well!" She chirped, casting a look in between them. She frowned as her eyes fell on Trucy. "I don't recall there being three of you…"

"Oh, yes, let me introduce you." Daddy wrapped his arm around her and pushed her forward. "This is my daughter, Trucy."

Trucy felt herself glow with pride, as she always did, whenever he introduced her to someone. "Hello!" She chirped. "I loved your show…"

"Why thank you!" Regina said, looking pleased. "But you really should be thanking Ken and Sean… they're the ones who really stole the show tonight."

She laughed, before beckoning them to follow her. "This way!"

The three of them followed close behind her, passing by various tents until they came to a set of small buildings. Regina shot them a brilliant smile before bursting into one. "Lawrence! Mr. Wright is here!"

The three of them stepped into the plainly decorated office. Daddy had a bemused expression his face, but Trucy was excited.

The man behind the desk was a short, older balding man. "Mr. Wright!" He exclaimed, as he leapt to his feet. "Why didn't you write?"

They stared at him.

"Get it?" The man said cajolingly, thrusting his arm out in front of him. "Wright? Write? As in write a letter? Which sounds like your name?"

Maya giggled, placing a hand over her mouth. "As charming as ever, I see."

The man grinned as he caught sight of her. "And Maya, too!" He said. "Why, you have grown so much!"

Maya laughed again. "Have I?"

"Yes, you'll have grey hairs before you know it!"

Maya's face feel. Trucy giggled, at her expense. And the man's eyes fell on her.

"And who is this?"

"This is Trucy." Daddy said. "My daughter."

"Daughter?"

Moe looked at her, bemused. Trucy stared back unwaveringly. He, like so many of Daddy's friends, had that look of mystified doubt on their face. It was the look that she was given when it was known that she could not POSSIBLY be his real daughter.

It was always a look that Trucy disliked and had no patience for. She was Phoenix Wright's daughter, biological or no, and nothing that anyone thought could change that.

"Sit down, sit down." The man, Lawrence, said quickly, waving his hand about. "Have a seat, have a seat…"

Some seats had been set about for them, although they were one short. Regina, upon noticing this, opted to stay standing.

"My, my, Mr. Wright…" The man said, sitting back down at his desk, his hands folded in front of him. "It has been a long time."

"A long time indeed." Daddy answered. "How is the circus?"

Lawrence opened his mouth to answer, but the girl, Regina, butted in. "It's over, Mr. Wright!" She said excitedly, her voice high pitched. "This was our last show!"

Trucy stared at her, her mouth open in surprise. Daddy and Maya too, seemed taken aback. Only Lawrence seemed at ease.

"Last show?" Daddy repeated, bemused. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?"

"Oh no, nothing's wrong." Lawrence said quickly, shaking his head. "No, everything is taken care of. Everyone has been paid, Regina will be looking after the animals, it's just…"

"Can I tell them? Can I tell them?"

Regina was bouncing up and down on her feet. Her curls bounced up and down. Trucy could not pull her eyes away from her. She was looking excited all of a sudden. Lawrence groaned.

"Please, Regina… it was supposed to be a surprise!" The man said. Regina giggled.

"But I want to tell them!"

"Tell us what?" Maya asked curiously.

Lawrence groaned, leaning back in his chair. "Well, the circus hasn't been making money for a long time now." He confessed to them, folding his hands in front of him. "All of our acts, all of our remaining performers and animals, everyone has been working toward raising money towards one goal for the past ten years."

Daddy frowned. "And that is-"

Lawrence opened his mouth to answer, but Regina jumped in front of him, beaming radiantly. "Bat woke up last year!" She exclaimed, her smile wide and radiant. "And after next week, he can leave the hospital!"

Daddy and Maya sat there in their seats, looking stunned. Trucy, who had no idea what they were talking about, looked between them, confused.

"Are you telling me." Daddy said, his voice low and quiet. "That he came back from a decade long coma?"

"It was actually a little longer than that, but yes." Lawrence said, laughing at their amazed expressions. "Yes, modern medicine is amazing, isn't it? Ha ha ha…"

It was incredible. Trucy thought, as the conversation turned to talk of old times. Of men named Acro and Bat and Regina's father, and the case from ten years ago. About Max Galactica and his marriage and divorce from Regina Berry, about a miraculous recovery. Not only did her Daddy remember every single little detail about the event in question, he was still very much a part of it. She could tell, just by looking at him, that he was just as happy about the unexpected turn of events as they were. In spite of the fact that he had never actually met the man in question.

"Bat should have enough money to live the rest of his life comfortably." Moe explained. "Everything this circus has made his gone to paying for him to live well and make up for the time he lost. His Medical bills are all paid, and the doctors say he very well may be able to live the rest of his life normally."

Going home that night was a magical experience. Daddy had a smile on his face the entire time, and Trucy could not help but ask him why.

"Trucy." He said to her, as they stepped into the house. "I'm glad I had the chance to help these people."

It was then she understood why he loved being a lawyer so much.

…

Two weeks passed. Trucy had begun to notice that Pearl was practically living in the office. Her boyfriend, who she seemed very attached to, seemed to not be willing to travel to her village.

"Trucy…" Pearl said, biting her lip nervously. "Have you ever been in love?"

Trucy shook her head. "No, never." Pearl smiled at her.

"It's a wonderful feeling." She said. "He makes me feel like I could fly."

She certainly seemed to be in a very good mood, even by her standards. Despite Trucy's attempts at warding her off she seemed completely unwilling to get the hint. On the rare occasions when they in the office together, Pearl would often speak to her about mundane topics.

"Trucy. Do you think Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya will get married?"

She answered a bit more honestly than she should have. "I hope not."

She almost flinched. She could feel Pearl's scandalized stare penetrating her back. At once her guard was up. For that brief moment, she had let her deep-seated resentment towards Maya bubble to the surface.

"You hope not?" Pearl repeated. "Why not?"

Trucy turned to face her, putting on her most winning smile. "Oh, Daddy was in love with another woman, you know." She said. "I still don't think he's ready to move on. Maya would be better off finding someone else."

Pearl stared at her. Trucy continued to smile. At long last, Pearl visibly relaxed. She had believed her. How naïve.

Another day Pearl asked her the dreaded question. "What do you think of Mr. Butz?"

Trucy had been toying with a plastic knife that she was going to use for a trick. For that brief moment, she wished it was real so that she could stab Pearl to pieces. "I think nothing of him." She said, keeping her voice neutral.

"I see…"

Pearl bit her thumb, looking nervous. "Maybe I'm just imagining things, then…"

Trucy did not know what she meant by that, but she did not particularly care. The less time she thought about Butz, the better.

She had taken to locking her bedroom door at night. She had considered more drastic measures, such as lethal booby tracks and alarms that would immediately alert the police, but such things would surely attract Daddy's notice. She could not allow that to happen. Butz only came around late at night, while Daddy was asleep, but thankfully had been deterred, so far, by the lock. It would not be long, however, until he eased his way in again.

That was him now, shuffling about downstairs. She could feel it deep in her bones. Her throat was dry, and she desperately wanted a drink, but she did not budge from her spot under the bed. It was Mr. Hat who was lying there in her place. Larry had not turned the light on last time, perhaps he would be stupid enough to…

Wait a moment.

She pricked her ears. No… the sound was not coming from downstairs. It was coming from… outside. Feeling a sharp feeling of dread, she slowly crawled from her hiding place, across the floor, and up to the windowsill.

It was a bright, moon lit night. Unusually so, in fact. Yet she could see nothing outside the building.

She sat there for a while, her ears deeply listening to more sounds. She heard nothing. What could it have been?

Maybe… maybe she could see it from another part of their home.

As a magician, Trucy had no shortage of dangerous things she could use as a weapon. In fact, she groped about in the room and almost immediately grabbed hold of a sword. She had to check whether it was a prop or the real thing, but she was relieved to find that yes it was real. She raised the thing in front of her as she slowly opened the door.

She clenched the sword in her hand as she slowly descended the stair case, her sword head high. She moved quietly, without making a sound.

Someone cursed.

"Damn pigs…"

He had tripped into something she had left lying around. The man in the darkness continued to shuffle around in the dark, falling silent again. She had not recognized the voice.

Trucy waited at the top of the steps, just out of his sight. If he came up here, to her, she would surely be spotted. Sweat began to run down her brow as the man skulked about the room.

And then he began to move towards her.

Trucy was not particularly strong. She was a rather petite girl, barely ninety five pounds. There was no way she could overpower this rather large man on her own.

But at least she had a sword.

She bent her legs as the man stepped into view, and with a mighty leap, leapt forward on top of him!

He let out a surprised yell as she tried to bring the sword down on his head. However, the man had leapt forward, smashing into her.

She cried out as she slammed into the staircase, her sword clattering against the ground. The man immediately dived down to her, and before she could react his large, powerful hand wrapped around her neck.

She was dazed, very much so. But still she fought. She hit and kicked and tried to bite him, but to no avail. The man was much bigger than her. With considerable ease, he pulled her up towards him, putting her in a chokehold.

The light on top of the stairs clicked on.

Trucy cried out as the man dragged her into the living room, dragging her along with him. Her feet dragged along the floor as she struggled.

"Trucy!"

She saw him at the bottom of the stairs, looking horrified.

"Don't move!" The man snapped, his grip tightening on her. "Or I snap her neck!"

Daddy stopped, staring wildly at them.

"Who are you?" Daddy whispered. "What do you want with her?"

"Are you Phoenix Wright?"

Daddy flinched.

The man's grip on her tightened, and she cried out in pain. "Are you Phoenix Wright, the lawyer?"

"Yes, I am!" Daddy said anxiously. "Stop hurting her!"

The man laughed bitterly. "I'm not here for your girlfriend, I'm here for you."

Daddy flinched. "… For me?"

"That's right, Mr. Wright." The man told him. "I'm here for you."

"What do you want with me?" Daddy asked. His tone had changed. It had suddenly become much more businesslike. But Trucy could see right through him. He was absolutely terrified of this man, and what he might do to her.

"I want answers, Mr. Wright." He said. "I want to clear something up with you."

"Very well." Daddy said, trying to keep his voice calm. "Let her go, and I will speak with you."

The man did not let her go. "That simply is not going to happen, Phoenix Wright." The man said, his voice cool. "We speak now."

Daddy paused, as if trying to decide what to say. "Tell me. Who are you?"

"My name is Bat." The man said.

The two of them fell silent. Trucy could see the horror written on Nick's face.

"B-bat?"

"I can see it in your face." Bat said. "You remember me, don't you?" He let out a cold, bitter laugh. "So you still feel guilty, then. For getting an innocent man convicted."

"What?"

Daddy's look of horror shifted to that of confusion. The man's grip on Trucy tightened so much she could not even breath.

"One decade ago." Bat said, his voice cold and unseeing. "You defended a Max Galactica."

Daddy said nothing. His expression tightened.

"In that case, you quickly began to realize that your client was, in fact, guilty." The man said, his voice reaching an insane sounding pitch. "In order to save your client, and boost your career, you chose to frame my own brother for murder."

"No!" Phoenix said, his voice vehement. "I would never-"

"ACRO WOULD NEVER HAVE MURDERED MR. BERRY!" Bat bellowed, his voice reaching an incredibly high pitch. "HE DID SO MUCH FOR US! HE WAS OUR FATHER!"

"Bat, no, listen, it was an accident-"

"Acro was innocent!" Bat exclaimed. "And you took my brother from me for your own gain! It was Galactica! He did it! He killed Mr. Berry! I know he did! I-"

BANG.

The door just behind them burst open. Bat whirled around to face the new arrival, sending Trucy tumbling across the ground.

"Trucy!"

Before Bat could prepare, the new man swung something large and heavy at his head.

Bat fell to the ground, slamming into the ground with a thud.

"Larry… what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What is THIS guy doing here?"

Trucy felt her eyes fluttering as the men began to speak frantically with one another. "Larry, call the police!"

Trucy could feel her Daddy's hands wrapped around her. She smiled at him. "For my next trick…" She coughed. "I won't die…"

…

A/N

WOW. I'm so sorry for the all too ridiculous delay. One of the major reasons for that was how I wanted to make a slightly longer chapter in order to encapsulate a single plot thread instead of this non stop teasing I've been doing since I started writing this thing. But that meant I actually had to put time into this, and time is one thing I'm very short on these days.

I was hoping I would have this chapter out by the one year anniversary, but sadly that did not happen. Oh well. I did, however, get it done a week later. And because of the wait, things actually happened in the story!

A part of me wishes I would take the time to flesh it out even more, but I really do feel as if I should wrap this all up before the next game comes out, because chances are all of my ideas are going to be impossible canonically by the next game anyway. I'm not quite sure how long the story is going to be just yet, but I just know that you will love it!

Anyway, please review if you enjoyed the chapter and tell me what you think! I really do appreciate the feedback.


	8. Chapter 8

Trucy awoke to a bright light shining down on her from above. Was it really that late in the day? Was she getting lazy? She usually had no problems getting out of bed, but today her limbs felt heavy.

"Trucy!"

She fluttered her eyes and stared up at Athena, who was staring down at her anxiously.

"You're finally awake!" Athena chirped, sounding relieved. "How are you feeling?"

Trucy groaned, trying to find the words. Athena leaned in closer to her, shaking her head.

"No, don't force it." She advised. "You may hurt yourself."

Trucy blinked again, trying to get her bearings. She was not in her room. In fact, she was not entirely sure where she was at all.

"What… where am I?" Trucy rasped, as she tried to sit up again. Her head almost immediately exploded. Athena quickly leaned down and pushed her back onto her pillow.

"The hospital." Athena explained, her voice soft and reassuring.

"The hospital?"

A flicker of fear passed through her. Was it possible…? Could she be pregnant…?

"Do you not remember?" Athena asked, as she sat down on the bed next to her. Her voice was soft and gentle. "You were attacked…"

"Attacked…"

It came back to her, just then. It was not Larry who had put her here after all. She found herself relaxing.

"What happened?"

Athena bit her lip. "Well, Mr. Wright is at the courthouse now. But apparently the relative of someone he had arrested came in to kill him. Here…" She reached for the bedside and handed her a rather thick case file. "You can read up, if you like."

Trucy smiled gratefully, but could not take it for herself just yet. She was not in the mood for reading. The mere mention of her Daddy led her mind wander to far more important things.

"Where is Daddy?"

"Giving testimony for the trial today." Athena told her. "Mr. Edgeworth is prosecuting."

A flicker of annoyance passed through her. Was she really so unimportant to him that he would rather give testimony instead of sitting here at her side? Seeing Athena's beaming face was not exactly a dream come true for her.

"How is the trial going, Athena?" Trucy asked. "Is it-"

"Oh, you're awake!"

A nurse bustled in, waving Athena away from her. Athena shot her an apologetic look as the nurse fussed over her, asking her questions about what she could remember and whether or not she was still feeling unwell.

It was not until later that day that she was found to be perfectly fine and was discharged from the hospital. Daddy had still not arrived. Pearl, however, was waiting for them at the office.

"Oh, Trucy…"

Trucy did not pull away as Pearl stepped up to her, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. She was still not feeling well, and had no energy to be angry at Pearl. She smelled really nice.

Pearl pulled away, smiling serenely, and then Trucy caught sight of the large engagement ring on her finger.

"What is-"

"Trucy, please." Pearl said. "I'll tell you all about it when you're feeling better, okay?"

Trucy spent the next couple of hours sitting around the house in a daze, watching old Steel Samurai episodes with Pearl and Athena. Neither of the other girls wanted to think about work, but it was all she could think about. She had missed an entire day of work because of the break in. She would have to work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for it.

And at long last, Daddy arrived.

"Trucy…"

He looked anguished as he hurriedly stepped over to her. Trucy's previous anger melted away as he stared deep into her face.

"Are you okay?"

She smiled. "Never better."

Miles Edgeworth had come with him. He stood at a distance as he watched the interaction before them. Trucy paid him no mind.

"Mr. Wright." Athena said. "How did the trial go?"

Trucy did not want to talk about the trial. Not right now. She just wanted to lay here and be a family for once. But of course Athena had to ruin the moment, just as she ruined everything else.

"Well…"

"He was found guilty, of course." Edgeworth said, stepping in between them. Trucy smiled at his back as he gestured for Athena to leave the room. "We can discuss the specifics elsewhere, if you like…"

Athena, thankfully, readily agreed and the two stepped off, already deep in conversation. Trucy turned back to Daddy, glowing with joy. The man, whoever he was, was found guilty. He was going to die, and never bother them again.

"You gave your testimony, then?"

"I did." Daddy said, nodding. "We won't be seeing him again."

And that was all that really needed to be said. They spent then whole night just sitting on the couch, talking, all on their own. About Trucy's work and how she was doing and where she hoped to be in the next year. About Daddy and Athena and the law and Mr. Edgeworth. It was wonderful.

It was amazing. Trucy thought, as he touched her hand affectionately again. How this incident had led to them being close again. Suddenly Athena and her career was not the most important thing in his life anymore. She was.

"Nick!"

Trucy flinched, but Daddy sadly did not notice. He had turned around to face the new arrival.

"Larry!"

It was him. Trucy thought faintly as Larry stepped into the room, smiling widely. In his hand were a number of bright red roses.

"I came by to see if she were okay!' Larry was saying to Daddy, his voice friendly and sincere. "I mean… how is she?"

"She's fine, Larry… Thanks to you."

Trucy felt herself seize up, panic overtaking her. This…. This was unreal. This was unbelievable. This was…

She barely registered Larry handing her the roses, although she thanked him. He left just as quickly as he had come, although he asked after Athena and Pearl. He promised to visit more regularly from now on "In case that guy ever comes back!"

Trucy was not looking forward to that at all. But all she could do was smile and thank him as he left.

He had soured the mood, despite the great joy that he had brought Daddy. Trucy sat in silence as Daddy looked down at her.

"I think you need some sleep." He said at last. "You look exhausted."

She smiled at him sadly. "Yes…"

…

She was fortunate that Larry did not come back that night. She had a pleasant, relaxing sleep and awoke to find the sun sprawling onto her face, and a wonderful smell wafting from the kitchen. Pearl had made her breakfast.

Daddy was nowhere to be seen. She realized with disappointment as the two of them sat down at the table. Now their lives would go on as they always had…

"You do not look well, Trucy." Pearl told her. "What's the matter?"

Trucy had to stop herself from glaring at her, the oblivious girl. How could Daddy just leave her here, all alone, on a day like today?

Pearl stared at her sympathetically. "Trucy…" She reached across the table and took her hand. "We're all here for you. Mr. Nick, Maya, Athena, everyone."

Her heart melted. Daddy was here for her. He just wasn't here now. Her spirits lifted, she dug into her meal with gusto.

They sat around the house again that day, watching movies. Trucy made some phone calls to her staff, promising that she would be back the next day and making some other arrangements. It was not until the evening that she caught sight of a discarded newspaper lying on the table. A picture of Bat's face was on it.

Her heart stopped. She lunged forward, clutching the paper in her hands as she read through the article in question.

 _Insane man convicted of Assault… sentenced to involuntary rehabilitation for five years._

Five years… FIVE YEARS…

Without a word to Pearl, she dressed herself and left the building in a daze. About an hour later she stepped into the Prosecutor's office and asked to meet Mr. Edgeworth.

"Mr. Edgeworth doesn't just meet with people off the street." The woman at the desk told her haughtily. "He is a very busy man you know."

"Not busy enough." Trucy said coldly. Ignoring the woman's protests, she stepped around her to the elevator and punched her way up to his office. She knew where it was, of course, although she had never had a reason to visit on her own. She adjusted her hat, trying to avoid the curious glances of those she was sharing the elevator with, and stepped out onto Edgeworth's floor and stepped to his office.

There was a heated discussion on the other side of the door, although she could not make out the words. Irritably Trucy raised her hand and pounded on the door. The words stopped. The door opened.

"Mr. Edgeworth is not-"

The woman was about Maya Fey's age, with long black hair. Trucy, the instant the door was opened, pushed past her into the office.

"H-hey-'

Trucy glared at Edgeworth, who was standing by his large, ornately decorated desk. He looked at her, a brief flicker of surprise on his face, before settling into an unreadable expression.

"Who do you think you are?" The girl demanded, as she grabbed hold of her arm. "You can't just-"

"Kay, please."

The woman, Kay, pulled away from her, suddenly looking sheepish.

"I know this girl, Kay." Mr. Edgeworth explained. "She was involved in the Bat case…"

"O-oh!"

Kay shot her a knowing look, but then she became confused. "But… but you put that guy away, right?"

"No." Trucy said, her voice still ice cold. "No he didn't."

The two stared at her. After a brief moment, Edgeworth waved his hand.

"Kay… could you leave us alone, for a moment? I need to speak to Ms. Wright."

"Yes, of course." Kay said. "Call me when you're ready…"

She stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. The lock clicked behind her. Edgeworth and Trucy stared at each other.

"Well?" Mr. Edgeworth asked her, crossing his arms. "What brings you to my office, Trucy? We could have spoken about the case last night, if you wished."

"My apologies." Trucy said, her tone shifting from the flamboyant, theatrical air she used in public or during shows to the more cynical, professional tone she used for business matters. "It seems I was misinformed about the results of the case."

"Oh?"

"I was told that you had found the man guilty."

"I did. He was proven without a shadow of a doubt to be the culprit."

She tried to hold back her mounting temper by biting her cheek. The pain distracted her just a little bit. "We understand that this is a man who wanted to kill my Father."

"Yes."

"Then why is his sentence so light?" She exploded at him, all pretenses set aside. "Why is he getting off with nothing but a slap on the wrist?"

"I don't decide the sentence, Trucy." Edgeworth told her, not intimidated by her at all. "That is up for the Judge to decide."

Anger began to rise up within her. The Judge… he too, of course, was in on it. Of course he was. How many times had Daddy made them both look like fools?

"Then why did he arrive at his decision?" Trucy asked, her voice lowering considerably from the high pitched wail she had used at him before. "What logic…?"

Edgeworth turned away from her. "The man in question had spent over a decade in a deep coma." He said. "He awoke to find the world in a very different state than when he had left it, and the weight of everything that has happened in that time drove him mad."

He turned back around to look at her. "The Judge, I believe, felt that the man has suffered enough." He said. "As no one was seriously hurt or killed, the Judge was willing to give the man another chance."

"Another chance?" Trucy repeated. She felt as if ice was freezing over her heart.

This man had tried to kill her Daddy, and had tried using her as bait. And yet here was Edgeworth, standing in his fancy office, trying to tell her that this was all perfectly okay.

The fact that it was one of his closest friends who was targeted meant nothing to him.

"Yes." Edgeworth said, nodding. "The Law needs to be fair and just. The man was not in his right mind, as anyone who has spoken to him can tell you. Perhaps several more years in the hospital will lead to him accepting the truth of his situation, and he will never do such a thing again."

"Perhaps?" Trucy asked, her temper rising again. "Perhaps?" She was furious, her voice was raised to a feverish pitch. "You speak of Justice and fairness, but you are letting this man get away with murder!"

"He had not killed anyone-"

"He sure tried!" Trucy screamed at him, her voice turning a bright red. "He tried! He tried!"

"Trucy." Edgeworth said. "Please speak to your Father about this, I-"

Trucy laughed humorlessly. "I'm lucky I even have a father." She said. "But in five years I probably won't!" She was hysterical.

"Trucy, please…"

He had not considered what would happen to her or Daddy at all when he had presented his case. He had not thought about them at all. He simply did not care.

Miles Edgeworth was not their friend. He was their enemy.

…

Bat lay on the soft, comfortable hospital bed. His mind, of course, on nothing more than the events of the few days.

When he had woken up, at long last, it had become very clear, very quickly that something was horribly wrong. Mr. Berry was dead. Moe the Clown was the Ringmaster now. Regina had aged considerably and had been married and divorced. And Acro…. Acro was gone. He had died in prison after having been found guilty of murdering Mr. Berry.

The news had shook him to his core. His brother, his strong, kind brother, would never kill the man who had given them so much in their lives. The very thought was unthinkable. It was ridiculous. But everyone around him that he spoke about the issue did not believe him. They had been convinced, somehow, that Acro had killed Mr. Berry.

It was disgusting. It was horrible. He cried himself to sleep every night. He simply could not believe it.

It wasn't true. It could not be. There was no way. No way…

The more he learned about the case, the more he began to realize just what had happened. Phoenix Wright, the lawyer, had framed his brother in order to get Max Galactica off the hook for murdering his brother. The more he read and learned about Phoenix Wright, the more he became convinced of this. He had even been disbarred for forging evidence at one point, although he had somehow gotten his badge back.

How many lives had he ruined to save criminals? How many more broken families just like his were out there?

It was thoughts like this that made him realize that he had to, as soon as possible, kill Phoenix Wright. He was a blight, a cancer, scum of the Earth. He could not be allowed to live.

But, as Bat lay on the hospital bed, he was now beginning to accept that he had acted too soon. His muscles had eroded over a decade of disuse. He had only just now started walking again. He had overestimated his ability to overpower his enemy. He had, in fact, been barely able to overpower a little girl.

A twinge of regret welled up within him. The girl, whoever she was, did not deserve this. He had not expected Phoenix to be with anyone that night, as he had imagined Phoenix to be the sort of person to only care about his work defending criminals. The girl, he had thought, had been his girlfriend, but the more he thought about her and how long she was that he was beginning to realize that she was probably an underage prostitute. Phoenix probably had had countless nights with them over the years.

He had to die. He had to. Once he got his strength back, he would try again. He would hunt Phoenix Wright down and bludgeon him to death.

"Are you feeling well?"

The nurse sitting at his bed side was not familiar. She was short, shorter than any of the others. He would describe her as petite. Oddly, unlike any of the others, she wore a large, white face mask that covered her mouth, and wore white gloves.

"I'm fine." He rasped at her, trying to smile. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

He leaned back. "About what happened."

The girl fell silent for a brief moment before nodding. "I see." She said. "It was quite an eventful night for you."

Bat almost laughed. The girl was funny.

"It was." He said.

The girl fumbled around at his bed side for a while, her eyes downcast. "Tell me, Bat…" She said, her voice soft and gentle. "What is it like, to lose someone you deeply care about?"

Bat stared at her, surprised at her forwardness. "Why do you ask?"

"I just…"

The girl shook her head. "I just want to know…" she said. "What drove you to do that."

Bat smiled at her, as best as he was able. "It's the worst feeling in the world." He said. "I hope you never suffer, as I have suffered."

The woman nodded, pulling out a long, sharp syringe. "Believe me." She said. "I won't."

Bat had no time to react as the woman plunged the thing deep into his thigh. He almost screamed, but she lashed her arm out and covered his mouth, as she pressed down on the syringe.

Bat began to shake about violently as the injection, a great overdose, began to overwhelm him. She stood there, feeling him writhe and struggle under her.

His hand reached up and pounded on the panic button.

It was not long before feet began to pound down the hallway. But by the time the real nurse had arrived, it was all over.

The only thing in the room was Bat's limp body.


	9. Chapter 9

Trucy awoke the next day in a very good mood. Well rested, recovered, and healthy, she was anxious to return to work to try and salvage her show.

Yet she was surprised to find Daddy and Athena discussing something on the couch, looking grim. It was too early for them to be up, wasn't it?

"Daddy?"

He looked up at her, and she was surprised to see that his expression did not brighten as it usually did.

"What happened?"

"There has been a murder."

Trucy kneeled down next to him on the couch, staring at him with wide eyes. "A murder?" She repeated. "Who was it?"

"The man that attacked us, Bat, was killed in the hospital yesterday."

"No…"

Trucy raised her hand to her mouth, as if she were worried, as Daddy nodded. "Yes." He said. "They say it was a nurse…"

"A nurse? Why would a nurse kill her patient?"

"I don't know."

He was deeply troubled by this. Trucy could not say why. Had the man not made it clear that he wanted to kill him? To take everything he had every valued away from him? To destroy him completely, as he had been destroyed? He should have been just as happy as she was to know that the man who had tried to ruin them entirely.

But Trucy knew better than to let her true thoughts show on her face.

She wrapped her arms around his neck tenderly and held his head close. "It'll be alright…." She told him, her voice soft and sincere.

Athena shot her a curious look, head cocked .Trucy tightened her lips. How unbelievable… even with all of her practice, she still could not fool Athena's heightened sense of hearing. She would have to be careful when speaking out loud from now on. At least, while Athena was in the room with them.

 _She will always be in the room with you._ A voice in her head whispered. Trucy shook her head, trying hold back tears.

Daddy should have been smiling. He should have been happy. What had gone wrong….?

…

They met with Miles Edgeworth sometimes later.

"There are no suspects?"

"None." Miles said, his voice grim, as he tapped his arm with his finger. "It was almost… almost like the killer just disappeared into thin air."

Trucy stared at Miles Edgeworth's face, taking in his words completely. Disappeared into thin air. Like magic.

Edgeworth met her eyes. Trucy stared back, trying to figure out that analytical gaze. There was no expression on her face, but was that normal? Did he see something in her that he shouldn't have?

Trucy excused herself soon afterward and locked herself in her room. She sat on her bed and brought her knees to her chest and pressed her head into them. She stared down at her bare feet.

Daddy was not happy. In fact he was horrified by the realization that Bat had been killed. He had spent the entire day speaking with everyone involved. Athena, Mr. Gumshoe, Mr. Edgeworth. He even called Apollo, something that he had never seen him do while under stress.

But he didn't speak to her.

She sat there for hours in the dark, silent room, her mind beginning to race wildly. Was it possible… was it possible that Edgeworth suspected what she had done? Was it possible that he would come after her?

Would he tell Daddy?

She clenched her jaw, gnawing her lip worriedly. She could handle being convicted. She could handle going to prison. She would maintain her innocence until the noose wrapped around her neck.

But the one thing she absolutely did not want was for Daddy to know what she had done. The way he had acted… the way he had behaved upon learning that Bat had been murdered deeply bothered her. He was not happy that Bat was dead and out of their lives for good. Not at all.

He could not know what she had done. She would not allow it. If he would ever learn that she had done something like that… it would destroy him.

She clenched her legs together more tightly, her wild thoughts racing. He would hate her if he knew. But if she did nothing at all… he would someday die.

She could not let that happen either.

…

Life went on normally. The police found no suspects. They could not even find a scapegoat to pin the crime on. Trucy was relieved… Daddy seemed intent on getting to the bottom of the case himself. He and Athena could talk about nothing else for the past few days. Both seemed sure that the agency would be dragged into the case somehow.

Except that chance never came. No suspects were brought in. No arrests were made. No clues were found. And eventually the case was declared unsolved.

And before long, life began to come back to normal. Daddy and Athena began to work on new cases during the day. Trucy returned to work with gusto, eager to make up for lost time and always returned home late at night, dead exhausted.

Not that Larry seemed to mind.

"Woah, Trucy. You seem really into it lately."

Trucy let out a moan and bent her head backward, her eyes closed. Her mind was on other things. Following the incident with Bat, Trucy had decided that letting herself be taken advantage of was in her best interest. She no longer actively avoided him, and tried her best to please him.

She owed him that after what he had done for them.

She still wouldn't talk to him, or be seen in public with him. She had Klavier for that. But a part of her was really starting to enjoy the regular, passionate sex.

It seemed that Pearl was no different.

"It's official." Pearl said to them brightly, flashing a radiant smile. "We've settled on a date!"

Maya cheered happily, but Daddy looked at her in shock. Trucy quickly imitated the expression.

"Already?" Daddy asked disbelievingly. "Pearl, don't you think you're rushing things…?"

Pearl shook her head, smiling. "I cannot abide waiting any longer to have children." She said. "I have found the man who is going to be my husband." She spoke with such firm conviction and poise that it completely took Daddy aback. Maya gave him a playful shove.

"Maybe we need to think about getting married Nick." She joked. "Get it over with."

Her face fell at Daddy's downcast expression. Trucy stared at them considerately. Maya was beginning to overstep her bounds.

Athena was more interested in the wedding than Trucy was.

"I want to invite Simon, is that okay?" Athena was asking her.

"As a date?" Pearl asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Athena scowled.

"As if, he's like an older brother to me."

"I've already invited him, actually." Pearl said. "We made sure to invite everyone. Ema, Mr. Edgeworth, Ms. Von Karma, everyone."

"And Apollo?" Athena asked shrewdly, her eyes glinting. Pearl laughed.

"Apollo was the first person I invited, actually." She admitted. "I let him know ahead of time so he wouldn't run into any scheduling problems."

That made Trucy's heart soar. Athena giggled.

"So he'll definitely be coming then?" She asked. "Junie will be pleased…." She snapped her fingers. "Oh! Can I bring her too?"

"Of course…"

Something about that bothered Trucy, bothered her deeply, but she could not quite place what. Not right away. She was excited about seeing Apollo again, of course, but something about the way Athena's eyes lit up every time he was mentioned bothered her.

"Who are you going to bring to the Wedding, Trucy?" Athena asked her. "Do you have anyone special in mind?"

"Well… Um…" She brushed her hair. "Klavier, I guess." She muttered. "You?"

She laughed. "Single as always!" She chirped. "Maybe I'll meet someone at the Wedding." Her smile faded. "But then again… I already promised to help Junie…" She crossed her arms, her head bent. "She's really excited to see Apollo again, you know."

Something about the way she said that annoyed Trucy a little. She could not help herself.

"Why?"

"Why?" Athena repeated, as if a little surprised. "Uh, she's in love with him. Did you not know?"

Something about hearing that, from Athena of all people, caused her to seize up. In love… with him? Like, seriously in love…

"Are you alright, Trucy?" Athena asked, as she raised a hand to her earring. Trucy swallowed as she took a step back.

"No, nothing's wrong." She lied. Her heart was beginning to beat wildly in her chest. What was this weird feeling inside of her…? And why was she shirking away from Athena?

Athena frowned as she took a step forward. "Is it something I said?" She probed, as she tapped her earring thoughtfully.

"No, I just… remembered something, that's all."

"I see." Athena tapped her Earring again, her eyes fixated on Trucy's face. "About Apollo?"

Trucy felt her heart stop.

"No."

Athena nodded along, as if she understood completely. "I see." She said. "You're worried about Junie too, huh?"

That took her completely off guard. "Huh?"

"I mean, I'm worried about them too." Athena said. "It's not easy maintaining a long distance relationship like they have been doing. Romantic reunions like this have to go perfectly…"

Trucy's mouth fell open in shock as Athena stared at her coyly.

"T-th-they-they're-they're t-t-t-t-t-together…?" Trucy rasped, her eyes wide. Athena smiled at her.

"No, not yet." She admitted. "But I find it interesting how the idea of that makes your emotions race…."

Trucy took a step backward, her eyes wide. She had completely fallen into Athena's trap. She had completely fucked up.

"So Trucy." Athena said, as she reached forward and grabbed her hands. "Do you want to talk about Apollo…?"

Trucy bent her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "I… only just realized it just now…" She whispered. "I swear. But I… I… I am in love with Apollo."

…

A/N:

I think I've said in the past that I had really fucked up plot elements in mind for this story. This is one of the big ones! Pearl is getting married! How horrible is that?

Oh, and Trucy wants to be with Apollo, her half-brother. Oops.

I deeply apologize for taking so long with my updates. I've had some really serious personal issues all year long and am constantly working to correct them. The good news is that I'm quickly nearing the tail end of the issue. The bad news is that I've reached the point where I suspect that a new Ace Attorney game could be announced at any point, making everything I established in my continuity out of date. The goal is to finish the story before the next mainline AA game releases. I may have to rush to make that happen, but I suspect that it will happen. I've gotten way too much great feedback to give up now!

I hope I will have the next chapter up relatively quickly. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!


	10. Chapter 10

Ever since Athena had found out, she had taken to cornering her every time they had a chance.

"Trucy, what about Klavier?"

Athena had been shocked at first upon hearing Trucy admit her feelings for Apollo. Apparently she had never even considered the possibility, not really. She had assumed that Apollo and Trucy's relationship was purely professional due to their connection to Mr. Wright. Trucy honestly could not blame her. She had fooled even herself.

"Klavier…" She murmured, her head bent. "He cares a lot for me, I know. But… I…" She struggled to find the words, to spit them out in Athena's face. Her mind was still trying to figure out what her heart felt. She had no idea why she hated the idea of Apollo and Juniper Woods being together. "He is… a good friend."

Athena's expression softened. She leaned forward and squeezed Trucy's hand.

"I understand completely." She said to her quietly. "But if you're not interested in him… You should let him know, okay?"

Trucy nodded, her mouth dry. It was perfectly sound advice, even if it was coming from Athena of all people. But Trucy could not help but be suspicious of her motives. She had been trying to get Apollo and Juniper together for over a year now. Why would she help out Trucy, who directly stood in the way of that goal?

Perhaps it was a ploy. Perhaps she was being manipulated in some way. Perhaps Athena wanted her to dump Klavier right before the wedding, which would make her look bad to Apollo. Who would want to be with someone who had broken up with someone for no apparent reason?

For that reason, Trucy did not heed her advice. She met with Klavier as she always had during the day, had sex with Larry during the night, and passed out with thoughts of Apollo. She had more than one nightmare about him being with Juniper. Many of them involved her lying in her bed, trying to block out the sound of Juniper moaning Apollo's name. Sometimes she would wake up and think that it had really happened during the night. But thankfully that never turned out to be the case.

Athena did not seem sure of how to deal with the situation. She clearly felt a little conflicted about being there for her friend and being nice to Trucy. Thankfully she had not told Pearl, Maya, or Daddy about the situation. Trucy imagined that she would never hear the end of it from the Feys, and Daddy would probably wonder whether or not Apollo had taken advantage of her.

Her chest tightened. The thought of her interest in Apollo tearing her family dynamic apart was horrifying. She could not seriously pursue Apollo. Not until she was sure that Daddy would approve. It was bad enough that Athena and the Feys were spending all of their time with him, laughing. She could not handle it if Daddy and Apollo had a fight over her. She felt as if she would break in two.

Pearl would, hopefully, fuck off for good once she got married and moved in with her new husband. Maya would hopefully go back to that hovel in the middle of nowhere she called a home and try her best to lead her sham of a cult into relevancy again. Athena…? Trucy felt her throat tighten. Athena wasn't going anywhere. Athena was NEVER going to go anywhere.

"Trucy, are you friends with Athena?"

She took in a long gulp of air as she ran her fingers down Butz's side. He was lying on top of her, as always, and had posed the question right out of the blue.

She seriously considered being honest about her feelings towards Athena, for once in her life. She was starting to get a little worried that their pillow talk might lead into discussion into uncomfortable areas.

"We're really good friends." She told him. "Why?"

He smiled at her brilliantly. "She's really cute."

Trucy almost bit his cock in rage, but held herself back by sheer force of will. "Is that why you keep dropping by?" She asked him. "To flirt with Athena?"

"And Pearl… and Maya…" He said, almost drooling. "They're all such good girls, you know?"

It was so incredibly strange how Butz approached and viewed relationships. He took what he could get and offered absolutely nothing in return. It seemed that that philosophy worked out for him surprisingly well, Trucy was beginning to realize. He had convinced her to fuck him regularly, after all.

It was so odd how the other girls viewed him. Maya viewed him as a harmless oaf. Pearl was a little more apprehensive, and Athena was growing a little bit hostile towards him.

"He keeps sending me flowers!" She moaned, as she slammed the roses onto the table with disgust. "How do I get him to stop?"

"You don't." Daddy said, sounding almost amused. "I've never known anyone who managed to convince him to love her alone."

"Ughhhh…" Athena moaned, as she placed her head on the table. "I'd rather be single than put up with that creep."

Trucy watched this with an apprehensive eye, not speaking up at all. Athena had been paying special attention to her words whenever she spoke about Larry, and had made it a point to never get involved in these conversations.

"Oh, yes." Daddy said, as he reached for an envelope for the side of the table. "This came for you."

He handed it to Trucy, who took it gingerly. It was a letter.

"What is it?"

"Fan mail, I think." Daddy told her, smiling. "I think they must have stopped by the agency to drop it off, it wasn't at home."

"Oh, I see."

She generally didn't read fan-mail. It didn't really interest her. But after she left the table she decided to open it anyway, just to take a glance.

 **FORMER ACROBAT MURDERED IN HOSPITAL**

The envelope slipped out of Trucy's hands as soon as she read the headline. She stared at it, lying there on the floor, as if would leap up and bite her, before she slowly bent over and picked it up.

With trembling hands, she pulled the newspaper clip out of the envelope and held it upward. There was no mistake. This was what the person who had mailed this wanted her to see.

There was another piece of paper in the envelope. Trucy trembled even harder as she got it out and slowly unfurled it.

 **I KNOW IT WAS YOU**

 **IT IS IN THE BLOOD**

It was not signed, but there was a familiar little symbol under those words. The symbol of Mr. Reus.

She almost ran off to his prison immediately. She had gotten her hands on a small pistol in case of emergencies and had just checked to make sure it was loaded and ready to fire before she began to relax. No… Mr. Reus would never have sent her that message if he had intended to go to the police. He had no evidence.

But what if he went to Daddy?

Her grip on the pistol tightened. Daddy had no reason to believe a convicted murderer over his own daughter and one of his former lawyers.

But what if it made him doubt?

No… she set the pistol down, back into its holster, and smiled. She was completely at ease. If she went stampeding after Reus, after he accused her of murdering Bat, then that would only cast more suspicion on her. No, the best thing for her was to continue the show. She could not go off script now. A mistake on her part could cost Daddy everything.

If she was convicted, so be it. As long as Daddy believed in her innocence, she would face death with a smile.

…

The wedding came ever closer, and Trucy was beginning to feel frustrated by the sheer amount of visitors that she did not care for in her house.

"Fraaaaanzy…"

The legendary German prosecutor cracked her whip and Butz took the blow, tears in his eyes. Trucy was amused to see that he did not even try to pull away. She could tell just by looking at him that he kind of liked it.

"All of these years and you are still a sniveling worm." Von Karma said to him coldly. "I hope you don't make a fool of yourself at little Pearl's wedding."

She was a tall, tough woman. So much so, that she looked a little embarrassed as she leaned down over Pearl.

"I… uh…" She coughed, as if trying to find the right words. "I wish you the best, Pearl."

She grew harsh again the instant that Daddy stepped into the room. "And yet here you stand, Phoenix Wright, still unmarried." She told him. "How pathetic. Even the child is marrying before you!"

"I could say the same to you, Franziska." Daddy said, almost lazily. Trucy giggled as Von Karma's eyes went wide

"H-how dare you…!" She muttered, but she offered no real objection. It seemed to be a blow to her pride. Trucy knew enough about her that she thought she understood the issue. She spent so much time traveling the world, prosecuting that she had never had time to really make real friends of her own. Trucy wondered whether she would be like that too, someday. The last person she had ever met that she had grown attached to was Apollo, and that was years ago.

Edgeworth came to see them quite regularly as well. He often brought along a young prosecutor that he was quite fond of. A young woman named Kay Faraday. She and Athena met eyes once and immediately seemed to decide that they were rivals for life. They spent the entire visit glaring daggers at each other and flashing their badges from across the room.

"Seeing them together in court will be something, I think." Edgeworth noted. "I was expecting to have her go up against Mr. Justice, however."

Juniper Woods was dropping by a lot too. Trucy felt her heart beat faster whenever she looked her way. There was no way that Athena had not told her about her feelings. There was no way that they were not actively plotting on how best to win Apollo's heart and fuck over Trucy behind everyone's backs. Trucy was beginning to feel a little threatened. Athena would surely push Juniper to make a move. They had been extremely anxious to do so ever since he had left for Khu'rain.

Klavier had been trying to hide his increasingly depressed mood by acting even more flamboyant than usual. Trucy was beginning to find it rather irritating, honestly speaking.

"I can't wait for the wedding." He told her. "It's been a while since I've been to one."

She nodded, her lipped pursed. She was beginning to feel very apprehensive about the whole thing. Not only because of her situation with Apollo, her deteriorating relationship with Klavier, or anything to do with Pearl. No, she was becoming increasingly anxious about what Maya wanted from all of this.

Despite only being a decade older, Maya had been trying to her hardest to be Motherly to her. Having Maya corner her every day, asking her how her day was or trying to cook her meals come off as annoying more than anything else.

Trucy suspected she knew why she was doing it. It was obvious. She was trying to show Daddy that she was wife material. Although Trucy was not exactly happy with how he was handling the situation, she rather appreciated how one-sided it was. He didn't seem interested in the idea at all.

Although Daddy seemed steadfast in his desire to remain merely friends with Maya, Trucy was beginning to fear that she may try something more drastic during the wedding. Something that would take advantage of the romantic atmosphere and cause Daddy to rethink his decision.

She would have to keep a close eye on them during the wedding. A very close eye indeed.

Pearl seemed to be practically glowing with every passing day. Trucy was rather taken aback by it. She was naturally extremely bright to begin with, but as the day approached she seemed to be almost be glowing with a divine radiance. Trucy had never seen her so happy. Trucy didn't understand it at all.

Pearl seemed to want to rush things. The wedding date was apparently much sooner than it should have been. Daddy seemed very apprehensive about all of it. ("Isn't she taking things too quickly?") Maya did not seem to share his sentiments.

"Better too young than too old, right?" She said, laughing. "I wish I had gotten married at her age…"

Maya was about Von Karma's age, Trucy realized. Although Franziska was far more mature and professional in what she did, it seemed that they were not that different after all.

The weeks leading up to the wedding were quiet and uneventful. Trucy began to feel as if she had settled back into her old routine. She woke up, went to work, and then came home every day. She was excited for the wedding. Not because of Pearl (In fact, she agreed with Daddy that it was probably a bad idea) but because she would finally get the chance to see Apollo again.

She had not seen him at all since they had left Khu'rain. He had missed her birthday and countless other events due to the demand of being the only defense attorney in Khu'rain, but things had calmed down enough for him to take a couple of days off and fly out to the wedding.

A part of her was annoyed that Apollo was coming back for Pearl and not for her, but Apollo had made it clear to them just how much he wanted to see them again. That mollified her, somewhat. She felt the same way towards him. For the first time in a long time, the three of them would be together again.

She half expected to come down the stairs in her wedding things to find Apollo sitting at the breakfast table, chatting with Daddy. She was disappointed when she was told that he was still on the way.

The wedding would thankfully not be taking place in Kurain Village, or following any of their customs. This of all things seemed to upset Maya.

"I don't think Pearl has put enough thought into how they're going to fit in spirit medium training for their daughters." Maya said to Daddy, as they stepped into the car that Edgeworth was going to drive to the wedding. "Or discussed this with her special someone."

Trucy sighed. The lifestyle of the Feys was at odds with the modern world. It was very possible that Pearls children would not be interested in becoming Spirit Mediums at all. Pearl herself, although she somehow believed that she could call back the dead, had already distanced herself from her bubble to find someone to marry.

The wedding was a dull, boring affair. Trucy had been asked to be a bridesmaid, and she accepted to make her Daddy happy. She tried her best to bring out a little bit of flair to the proceedings, but inwardly she was troubled. Apollo had still not arrived.

Pearl stood at the altar, smiling radiantly, and then it was over. People applauded and soon the after party began.

"What is keeping him?" She asked Athena, as they stood over a bowl of punch. Athena, who was dressed in a bright orange dress that matched her hair, shrugged.

"We don't know." She hissed. She nodded towards Juniper, who was dressed in pure white and looked utterly devastated. "Junie's really upset."

Trucy's mood brightened considerably. Juniper would not be invited back into the office with them after everything was said and done. Apollo being late could be a blessing in disguise. It meant that Junie would not have a chance to be with them.

Her mood considerably brightened, she joined Klavier on the dance floor and then end up sitting around with the Prosecutors.

"Bah, American wine is tasteless." Blackquill sniffed, as he eyed the bottle in front of them apprehensively. "If I were to provide for the refreshments, I would have imported some real wine."

Klavier opened his mouth to respond, but Maya cut in before he could. "Oh, Simon." She said brightly. "Sorry, I overheard… we have the good stuff over here."

Simon got up and followed her to another table, where Maya showed him something that was hidden under the table. Simon looked surprised at first, and then seemed really pleased.

Kay sighed, as she cast a look around the room. "I barely know anyone here." She complained. "Klavier, who here is single? I want to dance."

Klavier laughed. "I would have suggested Blackquill, but I think he's a bit pre-occupied at the moment." He said. "I-"

"Why don't you dance with her, Klavier?" Trucy suggested. "I wanted something to eat, anyway."

Kay shot her a warm smile as Klavier stood and took Kay's hand. He led her onto the dance floor, and Trucy headed back to the food table, where Von Karma was standing with Mr. Edgeworth. They were chatting about something or other, something work related.

"I cannot believe that Bat was murdered. And you still have no idea who did it….?"

Trucy grabbed her food quickly, trying to drown out the conversation, and stepped outside.

It was still a bright, lovely afternoon. She sat on the stone steps outside of the building and pecked at her food. She was not hungry, not really. She was just worried about Apollo. Where was he?

She sat out there for fifteen minutes, watching the road and cars pass by, hoping that one would turn into their road and stop in front of her, with Apollo stepping out of it.

It never happened. She sighed, setting the plate on the stone steps, she stepped down the stairs and closer to the street. She wasn't doing herself any favors just by sitting around. She would take a quick walk around the building and then head back inside.

She stuck to the concrete, refusing to get her nice things dirty by stepping into the grass. It was surprisingly pleasant out there. It was a well kept building, perfect for getting married. She wondered what Pearl was doing now.

She ended up behind the building and continued walking. She wondered where she would end up if she walked in through the back. In the spur of the moment, she stepped through the back door.

"Hello?"

There was no one around. There were two stairs, up and down, and Trucy decided to go down purely out of curiosity. She could hear laughter and music a little bit further upstairs.

She opened the door and found herself in a kitchen. It looked a complete mess. The place had been used quite thoroughly to prepare the food for the wedding. It was, however, completely deserted. Trucy walked through it, wondering just how much time it had taken to make the wedding cake, as she stepped into the next room.

It was a completely dark, pitch black room. Trucy fumbled for a light switch for the side of the wall. She pressed something, that she hoped was a light switch. Instead a whirring sound hit her ears. Oh, her bad. That was the fan.

She fumbled with the switch, trailing her hand up and down to find the right switch, as something wet and sticky fell across her face. It entered into her mouth a little, and she gagged slightly, as she wiped it with the back of her hand. What was that?

She flipped on the light and stared at her hand. It was blood.

Trucy stared at it, wondering vaguely where it had come from, before turning to the room in question.

The fan she had turned in had small flecks of fresh blood on it, that seemed to have been sprayed everywhere when she had stepped into the room and turned it on. The room itself, however, was completely drenched in it. The couch looked as if it had been completely submerged in blood.

Trucy felt her lips tighten as she took a step back, her eyes following the trial of blood. It was real alright… this wasn't a trick, or a prank. It was real. But whose blood was it? There was no body…

She had to report this. She turned around, anxious to get back to the main hall to find Edgeworth or Von Karma and get to the bottom of this. She was way out of her depth here. There was probably-'

She stopped mid motion, staring at an object she had somehow not seen as she had walked through the kitchen. It would not have been visible from the first door she had gone through. In fact it seemed to be deliberately positioned so that whoever stepped through this door would see it immediately.

It was a brown bag, covered a small ball shaped object and red blood. After having seen the living room, Trucy strongly doubted that it was hamburger meat. She stepped forward with trembling hands and opened the bag, and dumped the contents out on the table in front of her.

She flinched in fear as Pearl Fey's head stared up at her with empty eyes.

…

A/N

Wow! It feels like such a long time since I started this project, but I've finally got around to explaining why it is called In the Blood!

The story was, in fact, inspired by the joke among fans that Trucy seems to be the only member of Troupe Gramarye that isn't a completely terrible person. The idea I had was to make a fic where Trucy did start to go off the deep end, and start to obsess over her relationship with Phoenix and her career.

This plot point, Pearl's death, has been planned for a really long time now. I wanted to introduce it last chapter, but it had been so long since I had actively worked on the fic that I needed to take time to go over everything I had planned and make sure that it was all going to check out, and maybe start thinking about when the story should end.

I think we're now about at the half way point, I think. I don't expect to go further than twenty chapters. If I keep releasing chapters at this pace, I'll be done before the summer is over…! But I'm not sure how likely that is. I have to stress that the main reason I came back to this after so long was the great feedback I've been getting from those of you who love this story. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I'm sure Trucy does too.

Until next time!


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